Fourth Sunday of the Year C.
January 31, 2010. Our Lady of Grace 5:15, 9:30,6PM. Jeremiah
1:4-5. I Corinthians 12:31-13:13. Luke 4:21-30.
Love is the most used, misused and
confused word in the English language. How can I possibly use the same
word to describe my relationship with my two dogs and my relationship with
God? Scripture tells us to love the Lord God with our whole heart, our
whole mind and our whole souls. Should we love our dogs or ice cream with
that same intensity? I used to think that the highest form of human love was
the love between a husband and wife. Then I watched parents grieve over
the loss of their little child. Now I am not sure that the love of
parents for a little child is the same as the love of husband and wife for one
another at all. Love is a word that we use to cover the many kinds of
relationships we have with God, with people and with things. The meaning
of love is very hard to understand because we use the word so often and in many
contradictory and confusing ways.
What does it mean for a young man and a young woman to say
that they love one another? Is love the breathtaking experience you feel
when you meet a person who grabs your attention so completely that it almost
knocks you off your feet? If that person becomes sick or is injured in an
accident in a way that changes their outward appearance – will we still love
that person? Or is the love of physical attraction only a very shallow
and temporary way of looking at the meaning of love? Let me give
two examples: I know a woman who has MS – a disease that attacks the
nervous system making walking and other kinds of physical movement difficult if
not impossible. When the effects of MS began to limit what this woman
could do her husband said to her, “I am sorry about your MS. It is
going to make your life difficult. I don’t think it should make my life
difficult too. I want a divorce.” The husband may have
been powerfully attracted to his wife when he met her. He may even have
continued to feel sorry for her when he found out about her struggle with
MS. But did he love her?
Another man had a wife in the memory care unit of a nursing
home. She had not recognized him or anyone else for several years.
Yet, her very busy husband continued to stop by the nursing home everyday to
spend some time with his wife. A nurse who was trying to be helpful said
to the husband: “Your wife doesn’t know who you are. You don’t have stop
here to see her every day. She doesn’t even recognize you.” The
man turned around and said to the nurse. “But I know who she is. She
is my wife, and as long as I am able to do so I will stop here every day to
visit her because she is my wife.” Was this man in love only
with the pretty woman he had first met, or even with the warm, intimate and
caring marriage that they once both shared – or did he love his wife, no matter
what was happening to her? On the day that they were married both husband
and wife said to one another, “I promise to be true to you in good times and
in bad, in sickness and in health. I will love you and honor you all the
days of my life.”
Love may involve physical beauty and attraction. Love may be a about a very sensual and erotic relationship. Love may bring great excitement and pleasure. Countless songs have been written about the power of this kind of love:
Love is a many-splendored thing.
It's the April rose that only grows in the early spring.
Love is nature's way of giving a reason to be living,
The golden crown that makes a man a
king.
Once on a high and windy hill
In the morning mist two lovers kissed and the world stood
still.
Then your fingers touched my silent heart and taught it
how to sing
Yes, true love's a many-splendored thing.
We all know that most marriages begin with this kind of
fiery, emotional love. About half the marriages in the United States
break up today. Divorce is a tragedy that causes much pain to husbands,
wives and children. Today’s second reading from
As a Church we celebrate the gift of romantic love and
erotic love. But we have been around far too long to focus our
understanding of love there for very long. The symbol of love that we
focus our attention on is the Cross. On the Cross Jesus is the true lover
who teaches us that only a love that is willing to lay down self and sacrifice
everything for one’s husband or wife, child or anyone loved is building on a
firm foundation that will strengthen the relationship and last forever.
Love is about the gift of self that out-lasts emotion and pleasure, as
important as these two elements of love may be. Paul says: “Love is
patient, love is kind. It is not jealous, it is not pompous, it is not
inflated, it is not rude, it does not seek its own interests, it is not
quick-tempered, it does not brood over injury, it does
not rejoice over wrongdoing but rejoices with the truth. It bears all things,
believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never fails.”
Jesus lived in our midst to show us the deepest meaning of
love. Self-giving love is the greatest of all gifts. Self-giving
love re-creates us in the image of God so that we can live forever. For
teaching us the full meaning of love we give God thanks and praise.