Cardinal Tobin: Love is the source of all joy

As the Father loves me, so I also love you. Remain in my love. If you keep my commandments, you will remain in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commandments and remain in his love. “I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and your joy may be complete. This is my commandment: love one another as I love you. No one has greater love than this, to lay down one’s life for one’s friends. You are my friends if you do what I command you” (Jn 15: 9-13).

In the Gospel according to Saint John (Jn 15:9-17), Jesus shares with us the secret to happiness or joy. It is love. Specifically, it is love made possible (and fulfilled) by keeping the Lord’s commandments. What are these commandments? Love God wholeheartedly and love our neighbor as ourselves.

Jesus says to each one of us: “Love one another as I love you. Remain in my love. If you keep my commandments, you will remain in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commandments and remain in his love.”

The key to love is self-sacrifice: surrendering my will to God’s will. That’s why Jesus tells us, “No one has greater love than this, to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.” The ultimate form of sacrificial love is surrendering our lives for the lives of others. “This I command you,” the Lord tells all who would follow him, “love one another.”

There are paradoxes here. Joy comes from sacrifice. Love results from keeping God’s commandments and obeying his laws. This is not our contemporary point of view. We tend to think that happiness comes from the satisfaction of human desires. And we seek love by casting off all restraints and embracing the freedom to do as we please.

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