Reading I 1 Jn 4:11-18
Beloved, if God so loved us, we also must love one another. No one has ever seen God. Yet, if we love one another, God remains in us, and his love is brought to perfection in us. This is how we know that we remain in him and he in us, that he has given us of his Spirit. Moreover, we have seen and testify that the Father sent his Son as savior of the world. Whoever acknowledges that Jesus is the Son of God, God remains in him and he in God. We have come to know and to believe in the love God has for us. God is love, and whoever remains in love remains in God and God in him. In this is love brought to perfection among us, that we have confidence on the day of judgment because as he is, so are we in this world. There is no fear in love, but perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment, and so one who fears is not yet perfect in love.
REFLECTION
There is no fear in love, but perfect love drives out fear because fear has to do with punishment, and so one who fears is not yet perfect in love.
To be perfect in love, God needs to live in us. To have compassion, God needs to live in us. God is love and compassion. When God lives in us, we have no reason to fear, panic or despair. We have accepted and asked God to be our center, and in doing so, we know we are not forsaken. We are buoyed and balanced by He who lives in us. And in turn we can give His love and compassion to others.
We serve Him with Love and compassion when we help those who ask for help or who need help. We should not desire nor should we expect a thank you or payment or love given back to us. We should bypass those natural feelings. Remember we are owed nothing. We serve God both spiritually and physically.
"A Love which does not prove itself in action is not enough, nor is our natural readiness to please a friend; that is not charity for sinners are ready to do the same." (St Therese Lisieux)Saint Johan Nepomucene Neumann, Bohemian immigrant and Redemptorist, is an excellent example of love and compassion that drove him to successfully help the immigrants who lived along the Niagara Falls area.
He established schools and parishes for his immigrant flocks. And to better hear confessions, he learned their dialects and their language. He had love for the poor, the sick, the disabled, the sinner, the lonely, the hungry and the lost.
He founded the first Catholic diocesan school system in the United States.
“To holy people the very name of Jesus is a name to feed upon, a name to transport. His name can raise the dead and transfigure and beautify the living.” (St John Neumann) 
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