July 11, 2004: Love

"Love"



The Fifteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time
July 11, 2004


Our beautiful Gospel today tells the familiar and beloved story of the Good Samaritan. Jesus told this parable to illustrate his point about what it means to love God with all your heart, and all your being, and all your strength, and all your mind, and your neighbor as yourself.

Love.

Now that’s a word we love to use!

I love Mom. I love Chinese food. I love my car! Obviously, there are many different meanings to this complex concept of love. What is it that Christ commands? What does it mean to love?

To begin with, love is more than an emotion. You can’t be commanded to be attracted to someone or even like them—much less love them in that way. No, love has to be something that we can do with the mind and will, regardless of how we feel.

So we might start out by recognizing that love requires us to wish good, rather than evil, towards people. Love means that we hope they will find a blessing rather than a curse in their life. We pray that they will be saved, not damned. We wish them peace, not strife. We reach out and help them in their need, rather than laugh at their misfortune. And even if they are miserable so-and-so’s, love forces us to pray that they be converted rather than cast into the outer darkness!

Is that possible? Absolutely! Look at St. Paul. He rabidly persecuted Christians, and one day, he was converted to become their greatest defender. Don’t you believe for one second that there weren’t many Christians praying for him!

Or in our own day, look at Dr. Bernard Nathanson. This man founded an abortions right league, and one day, he was converted to become one of the strongest pro-life advocates around.

Yes, indeed, love can change things!

So far, our definition of love tells us that we should be caring and decent towards one another—but is that how you love yourself?

I should say not! You love yourself with considerably more fervor… with a lot more pampering, attention and expectation.

If I broke down along the side of a road, I would hope that someone would stop and lend a hand. It would be OK if he had a cell phone and volunteered to call a garage, or the Triple-A. But it would be a lot more loving if he got out, opened the hood, tinkered around and got the car running again—and then insisted that I join him for a hamburger and a beer, on him!

You see, the love that Jesus is proposing to us is incredibly generous. It is self-sacrificing. It makes you forget about yourself and go above and beyond in serving your neighbor… just the way you would dream that someone would help you! That’s why the Good Samaritan story is so classy. The man did everything for the robbery victim short of making him his heir!

There’s an incredible joy in being that giving and loving. It lets you be Santa Claus, Mother Theresa and Jesus Christ all rolled into one. If you’re looking for a way to make yourself feel good and useful, what could top this?

If love can be commanded, that means that it can be learned… and improved… and even perfected. So look for opportunities to practice and strengthen the habit of love. Even the tiniest acts push you powerfully in the right direction.

Do you have caller ID? When the name pops up of someone you absolutely don’t want to speak to—sure, you might let the phone ring and have the answering machine pick up the call. But why not give in to love, and call the person back. “Hey, I saw your name on the caller ID. Sorry I missed you! What’s up?” How would you feel if you were the person being avoided? How would you want to be loved?

Fortunately, Christian love is by no means a rare commodity. Thank God, there are loads of folks who are wonderfully loving and generous. But at the same time, we live in a very selfish age. So many people are cranky, demanding, impatient, angry, intolerant and worse.

My advice is to reach out to them just the way the Lord would. Don’t sink to their level and engage in their distress or insult them—but simply be warm, courteous and kind towards them. Your loving example and prayer will be the forces that might change their hearts.

Don’t be afraid to go the extra mile to help someone. It’s OK to interrupt your schedule and spend some time hugging someone who’s hurting, or listening to someone in need, or running a few extra errands to help a person in distress. These are the things that become the jewels in your heavenly crown.

Dear brothers and sisters in the Lord, we can make a tremendous difference in our world by loving one another. Start with the people in your own home, your class, your office or shop, your team, your parish. Love the way you’d like to be loved.

Amen.


Today’s Readings
Deuteronomy 30, 10–14
Psalm 69
Colossians 1, 15–20
Luke 10, 25–37