6th Sunday of Easter 2020 - To fall deeply in love with Jesus Christ

There’s a catholic philosopher and author I very much enjoy named Dr. Peter Kreeft. And Dr. Kreeft tells the story about a time he was invited to give a talk at a small monastery up in Connecticut.  And at the end of his visit, the monastery’s holy abbot approached Dr. Kreeft and said, “I’d like to ask you a question, Doctor. And it’s the same question we ask every visitor to our monastery when they are about to leave. And the question is, “If God asked you, what gift would you give to these monks if you could, what gift would you ask for these monks?” 

Dr. Kreeft, thought about it for a moment, and said, “I would ask God to make every single one of you fall totally in love with Jesus Christ for the rest of your life. That is the gift for which I would ask.” At his answer, the abbot smiled and some of the monks began to chuckle.  Not thinking it was a terrible answer, Dr. Kreeft asked the abbot why the monks were laughing at him. And the abbot said, we are not laughing at you or your response, it’s just that last month, Mother Theresa visited us, and she gave the exact same answer: that you may fall totally in love with Jesus Christ.

Why would Dr. Kreeft consider this the greatest gift you could wish for someone? Why do Mother Theresa and the Saints consider falling totally in love with Jesus Christ the greatest of all gifts? Why would they say if you could give one gift to a spouse or child or family member, one gift to you neighbor, one gift to a stranger, to the sick, imprisoned, or orphan, you’d want them more than anything to love Jesus Christ? What’s behind this answer? I promise it’s not false piety. They are serious, dead serious.

Well, because the love of God is the key to everything. Love is the key to the great joy of the saints. It is their motivation for lives of tremendous generosity and self-sacrifice. The love of God is what gives meaning to following the most difficult commandments in times of fiercest temptation. It’s what gives souls the motivation to turn away from sin, to leave lives of selfishness and self-destruction and wickedness. Sinners are converted when they learn to love Jesus Christ more than themselves. Children are inspired to seek lives of radical holiness when they learn to love Jesus Christ more than the prospect of wealth, fame, or power. Loving Jesus Christ is more important than becoming the all-star athlete, well-connected politician, or technological innovator. 

Love of Jesus Christ is the pearl of great price that is worth abandoning everything else in the world in order to obtain. To pursue It is to pursue eternal life. “If you wish to enter life,” Jesus tells the rich young man, “keep the commandments, love God with your whole heart, mind, soul and strength.” Love of God, love of Jesus Christ true God and true man, sets us upon the road to eternal life. It keeps us on the road, when the road becomes difficult. It draws us back to the road when we foolishly go astray.

When we deeply love Jesus Christ we begin to value all that supports, nurtures, and sustains that love. We come to value prayer as the most important of our daily activities, prayer which brings us in contact with Our Lord; prayer which opens our ears to his voice, his teachings, his guidance and or hearts to follow his example of selfless oblation.  We come to value fasting, confessing, forgiving, turning the other cheek, generous giving, self-forgetting. 

And, when we love Jesus Christ, we begin to disdain all that hinders that love, all that keeps us from loving him whole-heartedly. We begin to scorn those forays into selfishness so prevalent in our modern culture. We disdain begin to disdain self-indulging, dishonesty, bearing resentment, impurity, impulsiveness, and self-aggrandizing. 

As we increase in our love of God, our love of Jesus Christ, our capacity to love others increases. Christian author C.S. Lewis, speaking about how to rightly order his love of God and love of his wife said “only when I have learned to love God more than my wife, shall I begin to love my wife as I should.”

Love of Jesus impels us to serve him in the poor and needy. It’s what impelled St. Francis to embrace the leper, St. Vincent de Paul to embrace the plague victims, St. Francis Xavier Cabrini to leave her native land to serve the immigrants, St. Junipero Sera and St. Rose Philippine Duchesne to educate and serve the Native Americans, St. Mother Theresa to serve the poorest of the poor, St. Maximilian Kolbe to take the place of the concentration camp prisoner about to be executed.

Love of Jesus Christ transformed the lives of these ordinary people to do extraordinary things, and it can for us as well, if we let it, if we make it our greatest pursuit, as did they. 

Love of God is the key to following all of the commandments. If you love me, Jesus tells the apostles in the Gospel today, keep my commands. The apostles’ personal love for Jesus leads them to obey his commandments, his teachings, and his example. All of them, save Judas the betrayer, would go on to suffer greatly for the spread of the Gospel.

Love of God enables us to suffer wrongdoing patiently, to be kind to those who slander or mock us. Love enables us to overcome jealousy, pride, rudeness, and every earthly attachment. It enables us to bear all things,  believe all that the Church teaches, hope in the promises of Christ, and endure every trial. Love never fails.

May you fall totally in love with Jesus Christ today and all days, for the glory of God and salvation of souls.

5th Week of Easter 2018 - Friday - "Love one another"

Love is a deeply misunderstood word these days. Sometimes it’s reduced to denote a great delight one takes in a particular object or activity: “I just love ice cream and baseball”, “I just love your new shoes”.

When Jesus says today, “love one another”, he’s not saying, have the same attitude towards each other as you have towards your favorite food, shoes, or sport. This love is conditional, fleeting, and fickle.

When he teaches us to “love one another as I love you” he’s really outlining the beginning and end the Christian life.  We are created by God out of Love and we are created by God For love.  Love is the reason we exist, and it is our purpose.  I am supposed to love everyone and everything God loves.

Because we are called to love those whom God loves, this means that I am to love even the person whom I do not like or even know.  My love needs to extend to every corner of the earth, because that’s how far God’s love extends.  It needs to extend into every jail cell, into every hospital ward, across the political aisle, and even into the life of the hardened sinner, because God’s love is there, too.

When I begin my day and structure my day in terms of loving those whom God loves, something changes. I begin to look on others not simply with my eyes and my feelings, but from the perspective of Jesus Christ.  Going beyond exterior appearances, we begin to see in others that same desire to be loved as we have in ourselves.

Love is definitely a word that our enemy, the devil, wishes to distort and water-down.  He says, only love what you like, only love what you are familiar with, only love when it is convenient for you, love only those who will love you back.

But, in Jesus Christ, we see love’s true face. His love embraces self-sacrifice for the good of the other. His is not just for me, it’s for everyone. And it extends to even those who reject Him, patiently inviting them out of their hardness. Authentic love is larger than my limitations and experiences. In Christ, we encounter a love that is infinite.

Jesus gives us the command to love.  We pray, that today we will be faithful to that limitless love, for the glory of God and salvation of souls.
 
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For ever deeper faithfulness in following the commandments of Christ and for the grace to love those who are difficult to love. We pray to the Lord.

For lasting peace throughout the world: that Christ, the Prince of Peace will put an end to all enmity and division, and unify the peoples of the world.

That those chosen to represent us in government will use their authority to protect the dignity of human life and the welfare of the most vulnerable.

For those experiencing any kind of hardship or sorrow, isolation or illness: that the Lord may grant his gift of peace to those most in need of it.

For all souls who await the resurrection, for all our departed loved ones and all of the souls in purgatory, and for N. for whom this Mass is offered. We pray to the Lord.

O God, who know that our life in this present age is subject to suffering and need, hear the prayers of those who cry to you and receive the prayers of those who believe in you. Through Christ our Lord.