Do you remember Elizabeth Barrett Browning’s poem? …“How do I love thee? Let me count the ways. I love thee to the depth and breadth and height my soul can reach…” Those poetic, tender words express all that encompasses the character of human love—especially on this weekend of Mother’s Day. Our love is expressed in beautiful, captivating music, in art, in literature, and in the dynamics of our personal relationships with each other—by our actions. And, love is the essential ingredient of our faith.
But it was not always so….I am old enough to remember some Protestant and Catholic clergy talking about the “old faith”… our faith before the Church started talking about love (and mercy and forgiveness). For them, there was right and wrong and punishment. There was fear of God and the following of the law. These “old faith” clerics would say that since Vatican II and the theology of love, everything has been watered down and made easy. They knew there was a place for love, but now it has taken over everything and made a mess of the church. I have often wondered if, before Second Vatican Council, today’s Scripture readings ever recited at Mass?
These are profound readings that challenge all our senses. We are told human love is a reflection of divine love. But if we spend a few minutes with the readings, we see that God’s love goes much deeper than what we perceive to be human love.
In the first reading, Peter visits the house of Cornelius, a gentile. Remember, Peter is a devout Jew staunchly opposed to associating with gentiles or risking any action that might make him unclean. But, Peter had a vision from God that revealed to him that his understanding of purity was in error. So, acting on that vision, Peter enters the house of Cornelius, the Holy Spirit appears and Cornelius’ family is baptized. It is an important passage because it reminds us God’s love is universal, to all, for all, unconditional and ever present in the Holy Spirit. Not only for favorites, but for friend and foe alike.
The second reading, while brief, is one of the most profound in the Bible, “ whoever is without love does not know God, for God is love.” Remember, John’s letter is a description of the early Christian community. Today’s passage provides the foundation for everything else that is said about love, for it insists that the origin of love is God–that love not only comes from God, but that God is love.
God bestows love on us, in ways more profound than we can imagine, simply because God chooses to do so—not part of some reward and punishment mentality. For us to love one another is to participate in the creative flow of God’s love. Despite our infidelity, God remains faithful; despite our sinfulness, God continues to offer us a second chance. Such is the depth, and breadth and height of God’s love for us. Love, then, is not primarily our love of God, but God’s love for us revealed in the offering of his Son for the forgiveness of our sins.
And, as we all know and hopefully have experienced, integral to love is mercy and forgiveness. As we tend to fall back on that “old faith,” Pope Francis has eloquently reminded us time and again, the church’s very credibility is seen in how she shows merciful and compassionate love—the Holy Father is calling the entire church to refashion itself as a place not of judgment or condemnation, but of pardon and merciful love.
And, as we see in the Gospel passage, truly loving others is not as easy as we would assume it to be. Love is not about saying you’re sorry, or however that cliché used to go. Love is about laying down one’s life for another. Love is about remaining faithful to God. Love is shown in our gifts–in the intimate sharing of ourselves. But as we see in the reading, if the elements of love were so easy and natural to us, Jesus would not have given his disciples and us a command to do it, and he gives it to his disciples twice. It is hard to love, because to love means to lay it all out there—to be very vulnerable; to be other oriented—and that is the key to love—to be other oriented.
For all the songs, poems and movies about love, it still remains an insult to our selfishness. Jesus does not give his friends a handbook about love, but he has given them three years of his loving forgiveness, caring, and sharing all that he has. He lays down his life on the cross for them and for us, and then gives us the grace of the Holy Spirit…. and yet, we still flounder.
If there was only a miracle drug! But there isn’t! I do know, however, that receiving love from God and from God through others seems to be a good beginning. We cannot share what we have not first received. Jesus is God’s love made visible, receivable. We receive it in prayer, in stepping forward to receive the Eucharist. And, once we receive God’s love, we are called, no, we are commanded, to share it.
Sometimes, I think the most difficult aspect of this greatest command of all, is to believe that we are “loveable.” When Jesus asks us to love one another, he asks first if we have allowed him to wash our feet, in our simple humanity with all its imperfections.
Can we truly humble ourselves before the Lord as we receive his body and blood, and truly comprehend how great his love is for each of us? And, then, take that love in and make it a part of our lives…. Isn’t that what we are all here gathered together for? To receive his love…. and to pass it on. (pause)
Love is never a perfect experience, but in being loved and loving others, we are faithful to our Catholic mission… a mission that in the coming Jubilee Year of Mercy will call us to renew and embrace forgiveness, pardon and merciful love in all facets of our lives.
But for today, we are grateful to all mothers for their enduring love and we are grateful to the Church for her faithful love guided by the Holy Spirit. Thanks be to God!!