Sometimes it seems that Christ is contradicting Himself. In the gospel of St John 15:12-15, John quotes Jesus as saying, “This is my commandment: Love one another as I have loved you! There is no greater love than this, to give one’s life for one’s friends; and you are my friends”. On the other hand, He tells us “Whoever loves their life will lose it, and whoever hates their life in this world will keep it for eternal life.” — John 12:25.

Should we love this world which the Father created for us, and which is so beautiful and full of good things to care for all mankind, or should we hate it? The Lord also tells us, “And this is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil.” — John 3:19-21.

Jesus Himself came into the world to save the world and to save us all from our sins. Jesus is a man made by the Father. He came to save all men. We are all sinners, yet He continues to love us and has built a home for all of us. We Christians are all called to be missionaries sent all over the world to save the world and to save all mankind. Though we are all sinners, hateful creatures, selfish beings, we are all called to love one another and to instruct one another on matters of the commandments of God and especially how to love one another.

We love the world, we protect the world, we love one another, we protect each other. We are called to be brothers and sisters of one another. We are called to build a city of God, we do not have to own more and more land or houses, we are not called to control more and more people or things. We share everything with everyone and fashion a world of justice and kindness. We are here to rescue our world from greed, power, money and destruction of nature and one another.

Jesus hates the world of rivalry, envy, competition and greed. We are called to love until it hurts. As Christians we love the poor and serve the poor. We must call the rich to help the poor and call the poor to labour, to achieve fruits of justice and live a life of integrity.

God loves all people, we are called to love one another, we are all important. Some will hate us, some will reject us, but we see beauty in self-sacrifice for each other, hard labour, kindness and the building of community. There is a tendency towards selfishness and self-concern, hoarding and worldly possessions. But Jesus showed us that giving, giving, giving until there is nothing left but the clarity of love in our lives, whether we have plenty or not, is what will bring about a world of light and love, happiness and joy.

Then there is a world filled by the light and love of God. We should hate the world of sin and selfishness, and, love the world of goodness, sharing and caring for one another.

As missionaries of Christ, we are called to transform a world that is no longer one in which men love darkness rather than light. Rather, we are a country and a people who love the poorest, who love the sick and the dying, the sinners and the prisoners. We seek to build missions and countries where there is love offered to everyone; there are no enemies, no sinners, no poor persons but a people who are created in the image and likeness of God.