As Christ loved us...

Tonight I'll be officiating at a friend's wedding.

I love weddings. It's one of those times when you really get to share in the joy of others as they are entering in to a new chapter of their lives.

I've done numerous weddings over the years-- so many, I've lost count long ago. At every wedding I've done, I've used the same Gospel reading... and given basically the same homily... since I think it's one of the most powerful messages contained in the Gospel.

John 13:34.
"A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you,
so you must love one another."

The command given-- so appropriate for a couple getting married... is to love one another as Christ loved us. And how did He love us? He loved us so much that He gave everything He was, everything He is, for us. He lay down His very life for us... not just in His death on the cross, but in His everyday life of living as an example for us.

And we are to then live in the light of that. We are to lay down our lives for one another... not just in some grand gesture, but in the day to day interactions we have with one another.