The root of love in friendship is the natural and spontaneous flame of affinity, and due to this nature it is restrictive. While fraternal love finds its root in faith, it discovers in the other a brother because one feels a deep connection knowing that his Father is my Father and my God is his God. The evangelical brotherhood is a community of faith based on the Word.
The love of friendship appears naturally, it sprouts spontaneously as if in contact with fertile ground.
Fraternal love is not spontaneous, it born out of conviction. It is universal, and not exclusive like friendship. Love in a community rises above impulsive reactions and sees in the other person a brother of faith, without consideration for common blood or affinity. What is shared is something more important: a sub-terrain root which sustains different existences: the Father.
For these reasons to live an evangelical life is in essence to experiment the love of the Father. When one feels this love, an undeniable urge to treat others as the Father treats us arises. This is by excellence the revolutionary experience: I make room inside myself so that my brother will be by my side.
However, the only way to sustain this love is through an oblative love, no an emotional one. As only fraternal love can go above the impulses, that we can feel in a given moment, and can be articulated by daily expressions similar to these: “I like; I don´t like; I have been offended; I am not accepted…”
Prayer is the only path through these common difficulties that present themselves in our daily interactions with others. Prayer is the key that allows one to experience oblative love, to give and offer my convictions so as to accept the action of Jesus in my heart.
In communities there tends to be an important amount of friendship, and in friendship one can find some degrees of fraternity. Both coexist. It is a good idea for communities to ask themselves: What is the main ingredient of our relationships: friendship or fraternity?
Clearly what should unite us is fraternity. The beauty of learning to love all; to grow with all; to learn from all thanks to the fundamental secret for the proper working of a fraternal union: the rule of convictions of faith over those of emotion. It is through the dynamic activity of a community, oblative love, that we can make a reality the golden dream of Jesus: “Love one another as your Father loves you”.
(From I. Larrañaga´s book: Come with me – Chap. IV Sacrificial Love 1. To give life)
