In this week’s gospel, Jesus commands his followers to love one another. Which is totally on brand for Jesus—and we love to hear it.

What we don’t love as much is thinking about what that really means. Or why it is that Jesus needs to remind us to love. We get that we need reminding, of course. But perhaps we are less inclined to realize that this makes it our true priority.

When we get irritated in check out lines, with bad service, or when see stuff on the news that drives us batty, what do we do? We might remind ourselves to love and calm down a bit.

That’s fair. Good. But it also reveals that learning love as first response takes a lot of work. And that we shouldn’t give ourselves a pass when it isn’t.

Love isn’t just an emotion we experience, but a behavior we are commanded to learn. To practice. And ultimately, share everywhere.