What is love? Two easy steps (Lenten Virtues Part 1)

The last serious post was almost a month ago, Lent, grace, virtue, and so on. I haven't come down with a strange Asian flu. I haven't been abducted my a strange sect, and my social media accounts have not been hacked. I have, however, been very bad about blogging. Better late than never, I guess.

I promised to talk about virtues. Well here's the first: LOVE!

Yes, it's a virtue, not a catchword or a feeling. We sometimes equate love with happiness, emotion, even sex. Sometimes, it seems like we're on the outside looking in - we long to love and be loved. It just never seems to work. These are not love although they can be related.

1. Love is about God. He's the only one that got the key to our hearts!

Love consists in this: it is not we who loved God, but God loved us and sent his Son to redeem us from our sins (I Jn 4:10).

"But thou art merciful to all, for thou canst do all things, and thou dost overlook men’s sins, that they may repent. For thou lovest all things that exist and hast loathing for none of the things which thou hast made ... thou sparest all things, for they are thine, O Lord who lovest the living" (11:23-24, 26).

"in this Holy Week the Lord Jesus will renew the greatest gift we could possibly imagine: he will give us his life, his body and his blood, his love."

Benedict XVI, 2 April 2012

2. Love is our response of self-giving to him and others.

Example of St. Clare of Assisi

"She was eighteen years old and she had the courage of faith and love to decide for Christ, finding in him true joy and peace."

Our personal response

"May Palm Sunday be a day of decision for you, the decision to say yes to the Lord and to follow him all the way, the decision to make his Passover, his death and resurrection, the very focus of your Christian lives. It is the decision that leads to true joy,"

Benedict XVI, 2 April 2012

Love does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but finds its joy in the truth. It is always ready to make allowances, to trust, to hope and to endure whatever comes. Love never comes to an end (I Cor 13:6-8).

So what are we going to do about this TODAY? There is one week left of Lent, and we're called to love. Love is a transforming decision that we can make. 

2 Easy steps

 

1. Are we aware of God's love for us? Just take five minutes today to see all that God has given you - life, faith, health, family, friends, and his only Son on the cross.

2. Live and share that love. Tell someone that you love them by saying it or going out of your way to show it - a simple prayer telling God you love him or a kind deed done to a brother, sister, or friend.

Please comment and tell me your thoughts about love.

 

For more from Benedict XVI's homily: Palm Sunday.