On this Mother's Day I thank all of our mothers for their unending gift of love. The readings that we encounter this day point towards how abundant the love of God is for each of us which is of course similar to the love that a mother has for her child. May we pray for our mothers especially those who have gone before us into eternal life! And may we also allow our Blessed Mother to intercede on our behalf because she loves us dearly as her children. As you exit the Church this morning the Knights of Columbus will be honoring our mothers with the gift of a flower, so may we also remember to honor our Blessed Mother, with a wreath of roses placed upon her head given through our own offering of the rosary.
We must remember that love is more then an emotion or a feeling. The young couple comes to understand love from this prospective. After all, their love has yet to be tested and thus seen to be as something that transcends an emotion or feeling. Our Gospel on the other hand, instructs us otherwise, and thus it says that we must lay down our life out of love for God and our friends. This is a pretty radical type of love; because it is not based upon an emotion nor a feeling, but rather it is a love that has embraced hardship and in return has grown to reach its true potential.
If we want to see a glimpse of the perfect love that was offered on our behalf all that we have to do is glance at the cross. Christ crucified upon the cross is a true glimpse into what it means to lay down ones life for another. We want a life that is free from pain and hardship and therefore we do all that we can to avoid it. Nevertheless, the cross shows us that this cannot be so. The cross instead shows us that coming to accept the pains of conversion as an offering of ourself out of love is truly life giving and beneficial. If it were not this way we would all be doomed because the gates of Heaven would of never been cast open. Why, but because God never loved us so much that He was willing to take on our human flesh and lay down His life on our behalf. Thankfully, for us His love is perfect and thus does not manifest itself as a simple emotion or feeling, but instead as something that is authentic.
With the cross placed upon our mind we must agree that if we are ever to achieve true Christian love as our Gospel calls us to encounter; we must therefore pass into suffering. In order to love we have to be willing to suffer and to go into those areas of our life that are most uncomfortable and surrender them unto Christ. If we don't want to suffer we will never be able to join ourself to the cross and thus we in return will never posses Christian love. We must lay down our life which is to say that we must lay down all in our life that is found to be unhealthy. We cannot simply place a bandaid upon a gashing wound and say that it has been healed. In the same manner we ignore the many areas in our life that must be cast aside if we are ever to embrace the love that Christ casts upon the world from the pains of the cross.
From our first reading we encountered how radical the love of God truly is. Why, but because Cornelius was not a Jew and yet despite the fact that he was a Gentile the love of God embraced him and his family. From this love the gift of the Holy Spirit descended upon them and Peter exclaimed that God shows no partiality with those who fear and obey him. In other words we can say that God's love for us is so great that we can be forgiven if we desire to be. God does not discriminate with his love, but instead to the repentant heart is willing to pour Himself out entirely. This is what I call the true meaning of love and yet again this action was only made possible from the love that is displayed to the world from the cross. If we emulate this love that we see displayed here we will be willing to lay down our life and thus bestow our love upon all those whom we encounter.
In the days that lie ahead for us may we truly begin to love more and more. May we realize that love transcends an emotion or feeling; those change with time, but instead love is found to be finite and true when it is tested and it holds up from the weight of the world. The love that our world often wants us to buy into is not true love, but instead is self serving pleasure. We are taught to reject hardship and make life easy, but for love to grow this cannot be so because we must be willing to lay down our life. May we therefore come to practice ways were we can lay down our life more and more each day thus growing in our love for God and for all of our neighbors. When we discover a teaching of the Church that is tough to hear may we come to embrace the pain of conversion. When we are tempted to lash out in anger or be uncharitable to a neighbor may we embrace the pain of conversion. When your marriage becomes challenging may both parties be willing to swallow their pride and embrace the pain of conversion. The pains of the cross are true, but from these pains we encounter the love of God which is showered upon all those who truly desire to receive it and , in this manner, we come to share within the wondrous gift that is the love of God.
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