Some of us like to count
things. As an accountant by trade, people
often call me a “bean counter!” And I
remember when our kids were small watching Sesame Street with them and there
was “The Count”, counting everything – one cookie, two cookies, three cookies.
So – while reading and meditating on
today’s readings, the bean-counter in me decided to count the number of times
the word “love” appears in them. Anyone
care to guess how many times I counted? <Beloved
love love loves love love love loved loved loves and 8 more love>. Nineteen times we heard the word love (21 if
you count the Alleluia verse!).
So it seems to me that in putting
these readings together, Holy Mother Church really wants us to get “love” into
our heads and hearts today, huh? And why
is that? I suppose it’s because, as
Jesus makes quite clear in this Gospel, it’s all about love. Jesus and His Father – all about love. Jesus and us, His followers – all about
love. And we – in our marriages, our
families, our communities, our nation, indeed of humankind – yes, all
about love.
Our Lord is speaking in this Gospel
of a “chain of love” of sorts – a waterfall of love even - as the Father loves
me, so I also love you, and I command you to love one another as I have loved
you.”
Problem is, the word “love” is used
for so many feelings and actions and proclivities in this world, in this
culture. “Love” can be quite
confusing. So if the entire meaning of
our lives is about love, and if we believe Jesus, it is, well we would be remiss
if we didn’t try to understand exactly what Our Blessed Lord means by the word
“love” which He commands of you and me.
Dictionary.com defines the verb
“love” in the following ways: To have a
strong liking for. To have a profoundly
tender, passionate affection for. To
need or require or benefit greatly from.
And in a sexual context, to ‘make love.’
All of these are true, but none of
them comes close to the love of which Our Lord speaks, of which Our Lord
commands us.
Fortunately, He tells us, right here
in this Gospel, what He means. Love one
another as I have loved you. And He
shows us by His actions – first just before this passage at the Last Supper
when He bent down and washed His disciples’ feet, and the very next day when He
climbed Golgotha and was crucified and died for us.
You see, while each of the
dictionary.com definitions are more or less focused inwardly, on what I’m
feeling, or even on what I’m getting out of it, the love of which Jesus speaks
is a completely self-giving, self-emptying love. Self-less love. There is “no greater love,” our Lord teaches
us, “than laying down one’s own life for one’s friends.”
It is loving regardless of what the
other has done or hasn’t done or will do – these disciples were, after all,
almost to a man about to desert Him or even betray Him.
It’s
regardless of whether one “feels” loving.
Regardless
of whether the other “deserves” to be loved.
Regardless
of whether the other will love in return.
It’s
always desiring and bringing about the good, the best, for the other.
To see this sort of love in action,
we have, above all, His example. But we
are also blessed to have the example of 2000 years of saints, each of whom in
their own way made unconditional love of God and neighbor the center of their
lives.
And on this day, we thank God for
the example of mothers who show us in very real ways what this self-less,
self-giving, unconditional love looks like.
Of what heroic love looks like.
One mother, Princess Alice of Great
Britain, lived in the 19th century, the second daughter of Queen
Victoria. A mother herself to seven
children. Now as happened so frequently in those days, an epidemic of
diphtheria, a very contagious disease, swept the royal palace and her daughter
Marie soon died from it. She tried to
keep the terrible news from her other sick children, but one of her sons found
out and despite doctors’ warnings not to touch or go near those with the
disease, Princess Alice couldn’t help herself when she saw her son’s
grief. She ran to him and smothered him
with hugs and kisses. And within a
couple weeks died from the disease herself.
Another more recent example is that
of Saint Gianna Molla. Born in 1923, an
Italian woman, a medical doctor, wife and mother, she enjoyed skiing, playing
piano and attending concerts in Milan.
Diagnosed with uterine tumors during the second month of her fourth
pregnancy, Gianna refused the hysterectomy that would have removed the tumors
but which would surely have also resulted in the death of her unborn
child. Instead, with great faith and
trust in God’s providence, she opted for a riskier surgery in an attempt to
save her baby, and did successfully give birth, but Gianna soon succumbed
herself to an infection relating to that surgery. Her baby is still living to this day.
Now no mother, other than Our
Lord’s, is perfect, and not every mother would give their lives for their
children. Heck, some here might not have had a great relationship with their
mother.
But I think most would agree that by
their lives, our mothers are an excellent example of what unconditional love
looks like. Of what selflessness,
self-sacrifice look like. Of what Christ
means when He commands us to love one another as He loved us first.
And so we honor our mothers on this
day (weekend) and thank God for the wondrous gift He has given to us in our
mothers’ love. And nourished here at
this table and filled with His Holy Spirit, we seek to fulfill His commandment
to love as He loved, and as so many of our mothers do every day.
And in this month of May, in which
we honor Our Blessed Mother, Mary, let us conclude by asking her prayers and
intercession for ourselves and for all mothers:
Hail Mary…
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