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Amor (Caridade, Amor ao próximo)

 O amor de Deus exige reciprocidade, não se podendo permanecer neutro

Revista Superinteressante (Junho/1998) (Pág. 72/73)

2. Perfect love revealed in Jesus.
Now the drama of love unfolds not only on the occasion of contact with Jesus, but also through his person. By his very existence, Jesus is the concrete revelation of love. Jesus is the man who carries on a filial dialogue with God and bears his witness before men. Jesus is God who comes to live his love in full humanity and to make his ardent call heard. In his very person, man loves God and is loved by him. The entire life of Jesus manifests this double dialogue. Given to the Father from the beginning (Lk 2:49; Heb 10:5ff), living in prayer and thanksgiving (Mk 1:35; Mt 11:25) and above all in perfect conformity with the divine will (Jn 4:34; 6:38), he is constantly listening to God (5:30; 8:26, 40), which assures him that he is heard by him (11:41f; 9:31). As far as men are concerned, his life is given completely, not only to a few friends (Mk 10:21; Lk 8:1ff; Jn 11:3, 5, 36), but to all (Mk 10:45); He passes through the world doing good (Acts 10:38; Mt 11:28ff.), with total selflessness (Lk 9:58), and attentive to all, even, and above all, to the most despised and unworthy (Lk 7:36-50; Mt 19:1-10; 21:31ff.); He freely chooses those He wants (Mk 3:13) to make them His friends (Jn 15:15ff.).
This love demands reciprocity; the commandment of Deuteronomy remains in force (Mt 22:37; Rom 8:28; 1 Cor 8:3; 1 Jn 5:2), but it is obeyed through Jesus: By loving him, one loves the Father (Mt 10:40; Jn 8:42; 14:21-24). Finally, to love Jesus is to keep his word completely (Jn 14:15, 21, 23) and to follow him, renouncing everything (Mk 10:17-21, Lk 14:25ff). Consequently, throughout the Gospel, a division takes place (Lk 2:34) between those who accept and those who reject this love, in the face of which one cannot remain neutral (Jn 6:60-71, 3:18ff., 8:13-59, 12:48). On the cross, love decisively reveals its intensity and its drama. It was necessary for Jesus to suffer (Lk 9:22, 17:25, 24:7, 26, Heb 2:8) so that his obedience to the Father (Phil 2:8) and his love for his own (Jn 13:1) might be fully revealed. Completely free (Mt 26:53, Jn 10:18), through temptation and the apparent silence of God (Mk 14:32-41, 15:34, Heb 4:15), in radical human solitude (Mk 14:50, 15:29-32), yet forgiving and still welcoming (Lk 23:28, 34, 43, Jn 19:26), Jesus arrives at the unique instant of "greatest love" (Jn 15:13). Then he gives everything, without reserve, to God (Lk 23:46) and to all men without exception (Mk 10:45 14:24 2 Cor 5:14ff 1 Tim 2:5ff). Through the Cross, God is fully glorified (Jn 17:4); "the man Jesus" (1 Tim 2:5), and with him, all humanity deserves to be loved by God without reserve (Jn 10:17 Phil 2:9ff). God and man communicate in unity, according to Jesus' last prayer (Jn 17). But man must still freely accept a love so total and demanding that it must lead him to sacrifice himself by following Christ (17:19). Along the way, he encounters the scandal of the Cross, which is none other than the scandal of love. This is where the gift of the Husband to his wife is fully manifested (Eph 5:25ff Gal 2:20), but also for men the supreme temptation of infidelity.

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