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December 2007
Love is the fulfilment of the law (Rm. 13:10)
These words conclude a large section of the letter to the
Romans in which Paul presents the Christian life as one of love for our brothers
and sisters. This is, in fact, the new spiritual worship a Christian is called
to offer God under the guidance of the Holy Spirit (Rom. 12: 1), who first gives
it life in people’s hearts.
Summing up what this section says, the apostle states that love for our
neighbour makes us do the will of God, contained in the Law (that is, in his
commandments), fully and perfectly. Love for our brothers and sister is the most
beautiful, most genuine way of showing our love for God.
Love is the fulfilment of the law
But what, in actual fact, makes up this fullness and
perfection? This can be seen in the earlier verses where Paul describes the
various expressions and effects of this love.
First of all, real love for our neighbour does no one any wrong. (Rom. 13: 10)
It therefore makes us live all God’s commandments, excluding none (Rom. 13: 9),
since their first objective is to help us avoid any kind of evil, towards
ourselves or towards our brothers and sisters, we could fall into.
Then, besides not doing any evil, this love urges us to do everything that’s
good, whatever our neighbour may need. (Rom. 12: 6-8)
This Word encourages us to have a love that’s supportive and sensitive to the
needs, hopes, and legitimate rights of our brothers and sisters; a love that
respects human and Christian dignity; a love that’s pure, understanding, able to
share, open to all, as Jesus has taught us.
This love is impossible if we are unwilling to step out of our individualistic
and self-sufficient ways. So this Word helps us to overcome those selfish
tendencies (pride, greed, lust, ambition, vanity, etc.) which we bear within us
and which are our major stumbling block. (Rom. 12: 9-21)
Love is the fulfilment of the law
How can we live the Word of Life in this Christmas month? By
keeping in mind the various demands that love for our neighbour calls us to
fulfil.
First of all, let’s avoid doing anything at all that could wrong our neighbour.
Let’s pay close attention to God’s commandments as they apply to our calling,
our professional life and the environment in which we live. The first condition
for living out Christian love is never to go against God’s commandments.
Then let’s think about what constitutes the very soul, reason and aim of all the
commandments. As we have seen, each one of them seeks to draw us towards a love
that is increasingly vigilant, full of caring, tact and respect, always more
concrete in its response to the needs of our neighbours.
At the same time, let’s develop a spirit of detachment from ourselves, of
overcoming our selfishness, which is a consequence of living Christian love.
Like this we’ll do God’s will ‘fully’, showing him our love in the way most
pleasing to him. (Rom. 12: 2)
Love is the fulfilment of the law
This was the experience lived by a lawyer who works for the
Ministry of Employment.
‘One day,’ he said, ‘I had to present a complaint to the owner of a company
saying that his employees had not been paid according to law. After fourteen
days of hard research, I found the documents that demonstrated what he had done
wrong. I asked Jesus for the strength to remain faithful to his words that want
me to remain in the truth but also to be an instrument of his love.
‘The owner, when faced with the proof, defended himself by saying that certain
laws seemed unjust to him. I pointed out to him that we can’t justify our
mistakes by pointing to other people’s failings. The conversation that then
followed helped me to realise that he had the same desire for justice and
equality as me, but he had let himself be influenced by his environment.
‘Eventually he said, “You could have humiliated and crushed me, but you didn’t.
For this reason I have a moral duty to begin anew.” However, he had a pressing
appointment and there was no time to write out and countersign the infringement
report. So he took a blank piece of paper and signed it, showing me he was ready
to change immediately.’
Chiara Lubich
(See also: September 1993)
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