Loving Fellow Church Members

Transcript

As Christians, we are always finding ourselves struggling against the passions and trying, with Christ’s help, to live according to the commandments. Our Lord told us that we must love our neighbor whom we’ve seen, if we are to love God whom we’ve not seen. Yet the struggle to really love others is often the most trying and difficult when it comes to loving fellow church members.

We’ve all experienced the strife and anger that can take place on the parish level. Some of us even have contributed to the strife and disunity, by gossiping against our priest and making his job even more difficult. Not even the demons are as destructive in their collective attacks against the Body of Christ as we often are. Unlike demons, who would never attack another demon, we attack other humans on a regular basis. We sometimes even criticize our bishops, whom Christ has called to be as fathers to us, treating them with disrespect.

Under the influence of Satan, we give in to the pressure of Satan’s malice and turn against our brothers, Christian against Christian. Unless we truly seek out God’s redemptive grace, we have no hope in winning the battle against the passions. It is only the Acquisition of the Holy Spirit and the gaining of a humble and a contrite heart that will change our lives on this earth and make our lives having been successful. Christ stands before us with arms outstretched. Let us not turn away.