Most Reverend Jerome E. Listecki
Archbishop of Milwaukee
 

I must share with you that I considered skipping the ‘Love One Another’ (LOA) this week. I knew that you would understand. After all, it’s the Christmas holiday. I made my way along the I-94 corridor south into Chicago, visiting friends who have shared my life and various ministries in my diaconate, priesthood and episcopate. Like me, I thought many readers would also be on a holiday respite or break. But, then I realized that the very day of the LOA, today, is the feast of St. John the Evangelist.
 
Saint John the Evangelist is the patron of the Archdiocese of Milwaukee. We are entrusted into his intercessory care. In addition, he is also the source of the name of these weekly reflections, “Love One Another” (LOA), from his Gospel proclamations time and time again, as he refers to Jesus’s command to “love one another.”
 
On page 43 in his book “Life and Holiness,” Thomas Merton states: “The will of God is therefore manifested to the Christian above all in the commandment to love. Jesus Christ, Our Lord, said to His disciples in the most solemn of all discourses that those who would love Him would keep His commandment to love one another as He has loved us.”
 
And, in John 15:11-17: “All this I have told you, so that my joy may be yours and the measure of your joy may be filled up. This is my commandment, that you should love one another, as I have loved you. This is the greatest love a man can show, that he should lay down his life for his friends, and you, if you do all that I command you, are my friends. I do not speak of you any more as my servants. A servant is one who does not understand what his master is about, whereas I have made known to you all that my Father has told me, and so I have called you my friends. It was not you that chose me; it was I that chose you. The task I have appointed you is to go out and bear fruit, fruit which will endure, so that every request you make of the Father in my name may be granted to you. These are the directions I give you, that you should love one another.”
 
In my pastoral letter, “Who Do You Say That I Am?,” I borrowed a commentary given by St. Jerome (my patron saint), who related the story of St. John, the last surviving Apostle who accepted an invitation from the Ephesian Church, to preach and pray with them. Imagine an Apostle was going to speak to them, one who walked and talked to Jesus Himself, a witness to the crucifixion. St. John encountered the resurrected Jesus, and was present at the Ascension and in the Upper Room for Pentecost. People must have been holding their breath. 
 
He was so feeble that he had to be carried into the church. Following a lengthy worship service and an eloquent introduction, attendants lifted St. John to his feet before a hushed and expectant crowd. He was unable to say anything except, “Little children, love one another.” At last, wearied that he always spoke the same words, they asked. “Master, why do you always say this?” “Because,” he replied, “it is the Lord’s command, and if this is only done, it is enough.”
 
When I arrived as the new Archbishop of Milwaukee, I inherited a numbers of activities that my predecessor, Archbishop Dolan, performed – one of which was a weekly email called “Some Seeds.” This was a reference to the Gospel passage in which Jesus referred to the sower scattering seeds. I was asked, “Do you want to continue the weekly emails and, if so, do you want to keep ‘Some Seeds’ as the title?” I enjoy communicating with a number of friends and believers, and sharing my thoughts and reflections. However, I wanted to make this email my own. Therefore, I thought to pay tribute to the patron of the Archdiocese, St. John, and chose the words “love one another,” declared by him in so many passages in his Gospel.
 
Now, almost seven years later and hundreds of emails sent, we know that St. John is right. If this command of Jesus is done, it is enough to always remind ourselves to LOVE ONE ANOTHER. 

Note: This blog originally appeared as the December 27, 2016 "Love One Another" email sent to Catholics throughout the Archdiocese of Milwaukee by Archbishop Jerome E. Listecki. If you are interested in signing up for these email messages, please click here.