Loves gives - It does not know how to take

Today at Holy Mass we hear in the First reading what St John as to say about love…Love is a word that gets throw around a lot today….But do we know what it really is in our modern world?…….Let’s see how St John defines it…..”Beloved, let us love one another, because love is of God; everyone who loves is begotten by God and knows God. Whoever is without love does not know God, for God is love. In this way the love of God was revealed to us: God sent his only-begotten Son into the world so that we might have life through him. In this is love: not that we have loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as expiation for our sins”…….Love is sacrificial - It gives all - It never takes…St John tells us that God the Father gave his only son to the world, knowing the world would slaughter him…He did this to save us from our very self…This is love!….What person do you know would do this? - Give up his only son to an ungrateful world…..But that is what God did - He proved his love for us by his sacrificial offering of his son…..And Jesus in turn gave us a tangible example of that sacrifice in real time on the Cross…Remember - Jesus was tempted in the desert by the devil - He could have rejected the Father’s plan - But as we know, he did not…He “drank” from “the cup”, which was given to him…How about us?…The reason why there are so many problems in the world, particularly among families is - We do not view love properly…Love is sacrificial - There is no other way to view it…And when “love” becomes selfish, its destroys itself…This is what we see in many secular marriages…..There is a lack of understanding what love truly is….This is why the Church teaches married couples to be open to life………. Children - In some cases many children in a marriage - Teach a married couple what it means to “die to their self” and in doing so, we sanctify our lives…The secular world rejects this - Why? - Because they do not know what love truly is - They will claim they do - But do they? - If they did - Tell me why so many modern marriages end in divorce……St John tells us flat out……God loves us - And he proved it - How? - Through his sacrifice…How about us? - How do we prove that we love each other and love God?….Words are easy to say - Love is an action - Its not simply a word spoken.

“The Lord has sent me to bring glad tidings to the poor and to proclaim liberty to captives.”

How do we learn to love sacrificially?……A great question……Human beings by our very nature are selfish…..We must learn how to love and that process takes the majority of our life time…..The more we give of ourself, the more room we make for God to enter our life…This process, in my humble opinion can not be self-manufactured…You can not “will” this to happen without God’s grace….This is the mistake of many today…They try to do this on their own - And sadly fail......This is why God established a Church…This is why God gave us the Sacraments….This is why a Priest must pray and live a Sacramental life….This is why married couples must live Sacramentally….And this is how a single person living outside of marriage or the priesthood can live a chaste life……..Because without the assistance of God’s grace - Selfishness creeps in - And selfishness destroys love…..Our world today does not know what love is - I feel I can say that because our world today adamantly rejects sacrificial living……To love means to live sacrificially…..And until the secular world “figures that out”…..Don’t expect our problems to go away…But how will the world around us “figure this out”?….People need to witness sacrificial love lived out in real time…..Catholics of every stripe must be that witness…Single people living for others…Married couples living for each other and their many children….And the clergy deeply sacrificing for the people who they were called to serve…This witness “opens eyes” - If Catholics are not willing to love in this manner - How can we expect the world too?……Catholics must lead the way - We were give the example to follow - ”God sent his only-begotten Son into the world so that we might have life through him”….Now its our turn - “Death to self” allows the Holy Spirit to animate our life…And that is how we animate the world around us.

“When Jesus saw the vast crowd, his heart was moved with pity for them, for they were like sheep without a shepherd; and he began to teach them many things”

St John today at Mass defines what love is…..Do we agree with his definition?…..Love is much more then a feeling - The “feeling” part is just the beginning - We must make a firm decision to love - In many ways authentic love is an act of the will….This is why the world’s definition of love does not last - Secular love is solely grounded in the “feeling” of love…But what happens when “times get tough”?….This is why we need God’s grace…This is why we need God’s Church…This is why we MUST live Sacramental lives - In order to love sacrificially………We will never be able to accomplish this kind of love on our own - But remember - With God all things are possible - The saints show us the way - The way to authentic love of God and of neighbor…..St John tells us…”Everyone who loves is begotten by God and knows God”…..And we only really know God when we look outside ourself…….Loves gives - It does not know how to take…..JMJ