“You Are Love” Our world is full of references to ‘love’. In North America, love alone predominates our culture, especially in music: ‘Love Makes The World Go Round’, ‘Love Is A Many Splendoured Thing’, ‘Love Is All’. Indeed, St Therese of Lisieux would agree love was all and everything to her: “At last I have found my calling – Love!”
But love can be difficult to define in simple terms, since its usage is so broad. After all, we love our spouse, children, family. But we also love our work and the things we can acquire or do. We say, “I love that car! Or I love watching hockey. Or I love my freedom.” Is it even possible to really define what love is? Lyricist, Oscar Hammerstein, known for his profound, poetic, meaningful scores, wrote a song for the musical ‘Showboat’ which tells us something very important about love, something we should remember as children made in the image of God. Gaylord sings to Magnolia, “You Are Love!” … Wonder of all the World.” Oscar could have written, ‘you love’ or ‘you are lovely’, but he wrote, ‘you are love!’ And so, we are. We are love. Perhaps fragments of God’s love, we are creations of love by the hand of love itself. Love is the connective tissue of our spiritual being. In the movie, Interstellar, actor, Matthew McConaughey, at the end of his journey says, “Love is the one thing we’re capable of perceiving that transcends dimensions of time and space. Maybe we should trust in that, even if we can’t understand it.” If we took a journey into space, and looked down upon earth, we would realize what infinitesimal creatures we are, beings so small, we might not think we are even worthy of God’s love and attention. Yet, we are love itself, capable of love. We are both noun and verb, and God rejoices in us, his remarkable beloved beings. This is where love begins – with us! Just as Christ tells us, as beings composed of love, we are called to love, beginning with love for our Creator, and for each other, just as we love ourselves. Indeed, we must love ourselves also. Sadly, many don’t, but this is wrong. Proper self-love is reflected in these two Great Commandments. In essence, like the two sides of the ‘coin’ discussed last week, in calling us to love both God and our neighbour, Christ suggests that here balance is also called for. It is very easy to love God. Many rightfully give thanks and praise and adoration to our Creator, attending to our beloved rituals, and spending time in private prayer. Some go on pilgrimages or visit sites of Our Lady’s appearances, happy to indulge our 1-on-1 personal relationship with God. But if we do not contribute to, or are not attentive to or loving of God in others, we only satisfy one side of the coin of love. St. Edith Stein once said, “We cannot separate love for God from love of man. Yes, we acknowledge God easily, but what of our brother, those with whom we do not easily identify, because of their different backgrounds, race, culture, complexion, education or lack thereof?” She further points out perhaps we did not realize how loving God in our neighbour would be so challenging. Yet God is present in them. Then there are those who immerse themselves totally in working for a better world. They may even exhaust themselves with boundless, good works. But they, too, can tend to give too much to their neighbour, perhaps with the idea God is fine, he knows I love him, but he doesn’t need my attention. But our relationship with God is critical. He is both Creator and friend. We all know the regret and sadness we feel when a friendship is lost through neglect. It is much worse to lose touch with God. So, we are love. But how do we love as Christ asked us? The Franciscans know: “Lord, make me an instrument of your peace: where there is hatred, let me sow love; where there is injury, pardon; where there is doubt, faith; where there is despair, hope; where there is darkness, light; where there is sadness, joy. O divine Master, grant that I may not so much seek to be consoled as to console, to be understood as to understand, to be loved as to love. For it is in giving that we receive, it is in pardoning that we are pardoned, and it is in dying that we are born to eternal life. – Amen.” You are love. Now, Go forth and Love God and one another. Rev Fr Christopher Tracey Saint Joseph Parish Saugeen Shores, Ontario
0 Comments
Your comment will be posted after it is approved.
Leave a Reply. |
Father's Blog
Rev. Fr. Christopher Tracey
|