In a busy world where people often get distracted throughout the week from the faith they profess during Sunday Mass, Fr. John Guarnizo reminded Catholics to love their neighbor and put their trust in God.

"Make sacrifices for His kingdom,” Guarnizo, pastor of Blessed Trinity Catholic Church in Jacksonville, said in his column of the church's Oct. 25 bulletin. “It is a big challenge, but comparing with to love and to treat one another in the way my Lord is asking us is a real challenge that implies sacrifice." 

Guarnizo noted that Jesus calls upon his followers to "embrace a faith of compassion and love" completely, meaning that we do what we say and treat one another with love and respect.

The pastor further reflected on the lesson he took from this very topic while reading Mother Teresa of Calcutta: Her words taught that although the challenge requires a lot; when we love, pain leaves us.

"Jesus loved us so much that He offered His life for us and for our salvation, and God the Father offered the best of the best, the most precious gift, His only Son; and He did it because of His amazing love to His creation," Guarnizo said.

St. Paul gave us the clearest description of love in his letter to the Corinthians, Fr. Guarnizo continued. It's there that he describes love as patient, kind, never jealous, never rude, being joyful in truth, ready to trust and never ending. The reading is often used during wedding ceremonies to show couples embarking on a life together what they need for their new journey, but the writer is actually talking about God.

Guarnizo said God's love is all of that and more.

"God is LOVE because He is faithful to His creatures all the time speaking the truth, and He endures forever," the pastor concluded.