Sunday, October 25, 2026

Dear brothers and sisters,

God is perfect. He created us, protects us, bestows His graces upon us, and promises us the Kingdom of Heav- en, where eternal happiness awaits. Therefore, loving God with all our heart, all our strength, all our soul, and all our mind is self-evident. It is not merely something we ought to do; it is something we are called to do. Yet, when we turn to the second great commandment, we often encounter a more difficult question: How can we love those who fail to uphold the virtues of benevolence, propriety, righteousness, wisdom, and trustwor- thiness? How can we love those who habitually hold on to negative thoughts, speak with hurtful words, en- gage in unlawful conduct, and live selfishly concerned only with their own interests? And perhaps most diffi- cult of all, how can we love those who have insulted us, betrayed us, or deliberately sought to harm us? To answer these questions, we must first understand three fundamental points.

First, we must distinguish between the dignity of a person and the actions of that person. Being created in the image and likeness of God, each one of us possesses an inherent beauty that cannot be erased by wrongdoing. Human actions, however, can be good or evil, virtuous or sinful, right or wrong. Thus, we can love a person while simultaneously rejecting, condemning, and even detesting the sinful actions that person has committed. This love seeks the good of the person and cannot remain indifferent to actions.

Second, if we truly love God with all our heart, strength, soul, and mind, then we must also love the people whom God has created. We are called to respect the dignity God has given each person; to recognize the free- dom of choice He has bestowed upon us, and to honor the order He has established in human life. Loving oth- ers as ourselves also teaches us to recognize our shared human frailty. None of us is without weakness, imper- fection, or sin. When we learn to show mercy toward others, we become better able to acknowledge our own faults; and when we recognize our own need for forgiveness, we become more capable of forgiving others.

Lastly, we put our love for God into practice and help build His Heavenly Kingdom on earth by loving one another. As Saint John teaches us: “If anyone says, ‘I love God,’ but hates his brother, he is a liar; for whoever does not love the brother whom he sees cannot love God whom he does not see” (1 John 4:20). God places before us countless opportunities to our love for Him through the way we treat the people around us. There- fore, by loving others, we can make our love for Him visible and become united with one another in a world ordered toward compassion, forgiveness, patience, and genuine care.

Sincerely yours in Jesus Christ and Our Lady of La Vang!

Reverend Kiet Anh Ta.