God First Loved Us

Our meditation on the Incarnation continues with the aid of St. John the Evangelist and Isaiah the Prophet. There is so much to be absorbed, that the Church's daily readings give us little bits at a time for us to bite into and digest. Hence this slice of Daily Bread.
At the end of his life, St. John summed up the coming of Jesus and his message in the mantra he repeated over and over: "Love one another." His disciples , understandably tired of hearing the same thing, asked him why he did this. He told them that those three words summed up the entire Law and the Prophets. In his first letter, he expands on his mantra, including obedience as a way of manifesting love. "In this way we know that we love the children of God when we love God and obey his commandments. For the love of God is this, that we keep his commandments. And his commandments are not burdensome, for whoever is begotten by God conquers the world. An the victory that conquers the world is our faith." (1 Jn. 5: 2-4) When we hear "commandments", we think of the 10 commandments, yes, but St. John asks us to look at them under the umbrella of love. Isaiah's words further explain how we are to "keep the commandments": "to bring glad tidings to the poor, to proclaim liberty to captives, sight to the blind, free the oppressed and proclaim a year acceptable to the Lord." (cf. Isaiah 61: 1-2). All this makes sense and becomes doable, when we remember that God first loved us. How shall I return the love of God today? To whom shall I bring glad tidings, set free or enable to see?
How will my actions proclaim this New Year as one acceptable to the Lord?
Bro. Rene