Morning Smiles

Loving the neighbor we see

1 John 4:19–5:1

Beloved, we love God because he first loved us. If anyone says, “I love God,” but hates his brother, he is a liar; for whoever does not love a brother whom he has seen cannot love God whom he has not seen. This is the commandment we have from him: Whoever loves God must also love his brother.

             Have you heard the saying, “Seeing is believing”?  It’s kind of a strange saying, isn’t it, because why do we need to believe in something sitting right before our eyes?  Belief is for things we cannot see.  And yet there is a sense in which that maxim is true, that is, seeing some things helps us believe in other things.  For instance, seeing the unfurled American flag waving in the wind makes many Americans believe in freedom, which we don’t see.  Seeing a baby’s smiles – their morning smiles are the best! – makes us believe in innocence, which we cannot see.  Seeing the rosary makes us believe in the tender love of Mother Mary, whom we cannot see; or maybe it just makes us fall sleep, but we sleep in her arms.  So, seeing is believing while we walk in this world, where we behold but the shadows of things whose true splendor is saved for heaven.  On earth, we must see in order to believe.

             In the first reading today, St. John tells us there’s one very special thing that we see that makes us believe, not so much in freedom or innocence, but in God himself, namely, human beings.  St. John writes, “Whoever does not love a brother whom he has seen cannot love God whom he has not seen.”  In other words, St. John draws a clear connection between people and God, so that seeing one should make us believe in the other; more importantly, so that loving one should lead us love the other.  Now, there are a few people whom we see that don’t make us believe in God, in fact, they make us think of the opposite, like seeing Adolph Hitler, or Al Capone, or the Ole Miss football team.  Nevertheless, God said in Genesis, “Let us create man in our own image and likeness” (Gn. 1:26).  In other words, God made man his “signature shadow” in this world, so that seeing another person, we would believe in God.  This is what St. Irenaeus meant when he said, “The glory of God is man fully alive.”  On earth, we must see to believe; and we must see to love.

             In 1963, Rev. Martin Luther King delivered his “I Have A Dream” speech.  He said with courageous conviction: “I have a dream that one day on the red hills of Georgia the sons of former slaves and the sons of former slave owners will be able to sit down at the table of brotherhood.”  Man, that guy could preach!  Martin Luther King also had to “see” a dream in order to “believe” in brotherhood, and he invited all Americans to dream with him.  You all are at Mass today, so I assume you love God.  Right?  Good.  But do you love your neighbor, even if he’s African American, or an illegal immigrant, or your mother-in-law, or maybe you are the mother-in-law (!) or even an Ole Miss football player?  You cannot love the God you don’t see, while failing to love the brother or sister you do see.  On earth, we must see in order to believe; and we must see in order to love.

            Praised be Jesus Christ!