St. Bede-St. Denis Parish Home

Dear Brothers and Sisters:

 

I have lived through various experiences in which I have been able to confirm just how deeply we human beings need to feel loved and to experience glimpses of that authentic love which heals and saves us. For the word "love" has been all too frequently adulterated in our society, applied to many mere substitutes. Love is not possessive, nor self-serving, nor does it center on pleasure. Love is not merely poetry or pretty words spoken aloud; rather, it entails a healthy dose of sacrifice and self-giving—qualities that take concrete form in our attitudes and actions in daily life.

 

This Sunday, we Christians turn our gaze toward the mystery of God; and in doing so, we encounter the very incarnation of love: "For God so loved the world that He sent His Son to save it." The love that Jesus demonstrated to us throughout His life— through both His deeds and His words—serves as the mirror in which we must look to reflect upon our own lives. It is a love that listens and welcomes, rather than judging.

 

It is a love that waits—one that knows how to patiently endure until the moment the son returns home. It is a love that is simultaneously demanding and compassionate—one that calls things by their proper names, yet finds greater joy in giving than in receiving, and greater joy in the return of a wounded brother than in the meting out of implacable justice. It is a generous love—one that knows how to step outside of itself to encounter the other, and to forgive even to the point of shedding its very last drop of blood.

 

Such was Jesus’ love for you and for me—the very love for which He came into the world. It is this love that saves us from our wounded pride and from our fears. It is a love that sets us free, opens our hearts to God, and enables us to share that love with others. I, personally, need this love—the love God brought into the world—in order to truly live; and I hope—even if only in the most humble of ways—to be able to pass it on to others. That is our task.

 

Have a blessed Sunday!
 
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