Love is a hard word.
Even now. Perhaps especially now at this point in my life and understanding of things.
Love God with the complete fullness of my being? Love my neighbor with the
complete fullness of my being? How dare I say that I do when I know that I do
not, when I know that there is yet much of me left to be converted?
To say that
I do would be the ultimate hypocrisy.
We are taught to do things [1] from a
sense of obligation and [2] from a sense of guilt.
God calls us to neither.
God calls us to live, move,
and have our being in himself ... whose nature is love. Any other motivation to choose and serve God ... obligation, guilt, or otherwise ... will always lead only to more of themselves, only in ever increasing degrees.
And now faith, hope, and love abide, these three; and the greatest of these is love. [1 Corinthians 13:13]
What stands in the way
of this love?
The deadly wolves of Pride, Covetousness, Lust, Anger, Gluttony, Envy, and Sloth top the list of sins that stand in the way of this love. Then there is the long list of little foxes ... all those venial sins that are constantly nipping at us that stand in the way of this love.
Oh my. I am yet such a great
sinner.
People, in general no longer choose love.
They choose, rather, what
they make as a definition of love that suits their notions and preferences.
Things get convoluted. The more convoluted things become, the more sore and
angrier people become. Hence the problems that plague society. Hence the selfish physical and emotional wars
that rage. Those conflicts and disputes among you, where do they come from?
Do they not come from your cravings that are at war within you? You want
something and do not have it; so you commit murder. And you covet something and
cannot obtain it; so you engage in disputes and conflicts. [James 4:1-2]
I
have to keep reminding myself that real, lasting, and meaningful change rarely
happens from the top down. It happens down in the dirt where the roots are. I have made a choice. I choose to live down in the dirt.
Saint Benedict tells me that I am to prefer
nothing to the love of Christ.[1]
[Holy Rule 4:21.]
The love of Christ must come before all else.
Thank you :)
ReplyDeleteIt is my pleasure.
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