Loving the Lord Jesus More Than Any Other

To love the Lord Jesus more than anyone else has ever loved Him is both a daring desire and a beautiful aspiration. It is a longing born from deep gratitude for His boundless love for us—a love that led Him to the Cross, to humiliation, to death, and ultimately to resurrection. Such a love deserves the total gift of ourselves in return. When we say we want to love Him more than any other, we are not competing with saints or apostles; we are simply responding with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength to the One who first loved us.

In John 21:15-17, Jesus asks Peter three times, “Do you love me?” Tradition interprets this repetition as an act of restoration, corresponding to Peter’s threefold denial. But it is also a powerful act of reaffirmation. In Jewish tradition, repetition signifies importance, conviction, and permanence. To say something three times is to seal it. When Peter is asked, “Do you love me?” three times, Jesus is not merely testing his sincerity but inviting him into a deeper, more steadfast love. Each question strips away Peter’s pride and replaces it with humble affection. Each response is a pledge of lifelong devotion.

Similarly, when we express our love for Christ repeatedly, especially in prayer or in moments of recommitment, we are not simply repeating words—we are deepening our resolve. We are saying, “Yes, Lord, I love You—not just once, but with my entire life, now and forever.”

To love Jesus with all our heart means there is no room for half-measures. It means choosing Him above our comforts, our attachments, even above our relationships when necessary. It means allowing our love for Him to be the source from which all other loves flow—purified, elevated, and rightly ordered. This kind of love grows through prayer, through sacrifice, and through the Eucharist, where we encounter the very Heart of Jesus, who gives Himself fully to us.

As we journey through life, let us ask daily for the grace to love the Lord more—more than yesterday, more than anyone else—not out of pride, but out of desire to console His Heart, to glorify Him, and to spend our lives as living offerings of love. Let this be our mission: to love Jesus more and more, until our last breath and into eternity