The Fifth Element

When I was a young man, there was a popular American R&B group called Earth, Wind and Fire. My friends and I used to call this group “the Elements,” because, according to our science teacher, the four elements were earth, air, fire, and water.
In 1997, a science fiction action movie was released called “The Fifth Element.” In this movie, a taxicab driver tries to save the world from destruction by evil. His weapon consisted of four stones that contained the energies of the four classical elements (earth, air, fire, and water), and a human-like being that contained a fifth element. In order for the weapon to be effective, the power of the first four elements had to be combined with the fifth element. Once they were combined, the weapon became a divine light that destroys evil.
What was this fifth element?
Love. And love is divine!
The greatest of all the natural elements (earth, air, fire, and water) and the greatest of all the supernatural elements (faith, hope and charity) is love.
Love is the power that created the Earth and all that is in it, for God is love (1 John 4:7-9).
Love is the power that heals the Earth and all that is in it, for God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son that whosoever believes in Him would not die but have everlasting life (John 3:16).
Love is the power that defeats evil, for our fight is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.
Love is the power that holds all things together in our lives, on our Earth, for Love was before all things (John 1:1-4; Colossians 1:17).
It’s important that we do not express love only on Valentine’s Day, or during the month of February, because love is essential to life! It is the source of life. It is the weapon we need to expel the evil lurking in our homes, schools, communities, nations.  
Let’s cultivate love toward each other and ourselves, each month, every day, in our thoughts, in our speech, and in our actions.

“A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another; as I have loved you, that you also love one another” (John 13:34). 

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