NBVM Novena Day 6: Being a Disciple is to Love Like Jesus
Do we really know what God wants from us? Do we know if what we’re doing pleases God? Sometimes we think that grand gestures and monumental acts are what impress God, more often than not, it’s the small, humble actions that truly touch His heart. As Mother Teresa beautifully put it, “We cannot do great things, only small things with great love.”
“Discipleship means mirroring Jesus,” said Rev Fr Desmond Janssen, who celebrated Mass on the sixth day of Novena. And if Jesus is love, to be his disciple is to love. Therefore, the question we must ask ourselves is: Do I love like Jesus does? Am I an instrument of love, offering it to the world around me? For as 1 John 4:8 reminds us, He who does not love does not know God; for God is love.
Fr Desmond mused on how hand gestures depicting love have shrunk over the years. We used to have two people joining their arms to form a large heart. From that, it went to using all ten fingers to make the shape of a heart. These days, K-pop has made the Korean finger heart using only the index finger and thumb as the trendy way to express love.
Just like how the heart gesture has gone from extra large to mini, has our love shrunk as well? How little do we love!
How are can we be instruments of love? Fr Desmond proposed four ways to do this as disciples of Christ:
- Self-love
- Self-care
- Self-respect
- Self-patience
At first glance, these may seem self-centred. But in truth, we cannot give what we do not have. If we don’t love ourselves, how can we extend love to others? If we don’t care for, respect, or have patience with ourselves, how can we offer those to anyone else?
When we begin with ourselves, allowing God’s grace to fill and strengthen us, only then can we fully give love to others.
We are products of love; created out of love to love. Just as an orange cannot taste like an apple, we cannot be anything other than what God made us to be: beings of love.
Loving ourselves is rooted in the knowledge that we are deeply loved and known by God. Sometimes, the weight of our past sins and failures can make us feel unworthy of His love. But the greatness of God’s love is that it persists despite our imperfections; it is unconditional. The story of the Prodigal Son shows us this truth. Even when we are still far away, God runs to meet us, eager to embrace and forgive the repentant sinner finding his way home.
“Accept that I am sinful, but I am loved by God. Despite my struggles and pain, I know God is with me,” said Fr Desmond. With this knowledge, we can truly become His disciples—ready to love as He loves.