“This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you.”

I can imagine my mom and dad during my childhood wondering why it seemed so hard for us kids to love one another as they loved us. Pulling hair, knocking heads, and racing each other up the stairs were always a part of the routine for Eddie, Carrie, and me. Being the youngest, I often had the advantage of watching their mistakes, so I learned how to stay out of trouble.

As Eddie and Carrie both moved off to college, and then on to life as a doctor and mother, respectively, I began to understand more clearly what they had taught me. The moments we spent consoling one another in dark times, the sleepless nights full of laughter, and the leaps of faith we took together were among top lessons. Beyond what not to do, though, Eddie and Carrie taught me how to be: by being a family, we learned joy; by praying together, we learned hope. In a way, they laid down their lives for me—they were Christ to me, and allowed me to abide in God’s love.

“I have called you friends,” Christ tells us, “because I have made known to you everything that I have heard from my Father.”

A shared childhood is a great gift, and Eddie and Carrie have become my best friends. They taught me everything they know of our Father by loving me as their sister.

I am always thankful that I was not given the choice of having either a brother or a sister, and I am even more thankful for their love. Through my family, I first encountered the message of today’s Gospel—they helped me discover what it means to love one another, not as servants but as friends in Christ. In joyfully accepting their love, I joyfully say yes to God’s love.