Homily: Friday of the 5th Week of Easter - All you need is love.

When I am preparing couples for marriage, I ask them a series of questions about themselves and their relationship.  ‘Where are you from?’ ‘How did you meet?’ ‘When long have you dated?’ ‘What kind of activities do you share?’ ‘Do you think your parents set a good example of how to have a happy marriage?’ ‘What will you do differently?

The toughest question perhaps is a true or false question.  ‘True or false,’ I ask. ‘Love is all you need for a happy marriage.’  Is love all you need for a happy marriage?  Some of them think it is a trick question, and they try looking at my face to see what answer I want. 

Is love all we need? The answer really depends on our definition of love.  Sometimes we use the word love to mean a lot of things.  We say, I love ice cream, I love classical music, I love summer, I love bacon, I love the Cleveland browns, which is like saying I love suffering and tragedy, but that goes to show you, the word love has many meanings.  Some even use the word ‘love’ in a very confused way, as in, “I love the pittsburgh stealers”. 

But when Jesus said that the greatest commandment is to love God and love our neighbor, he spoke of love in the truest sense.  True love is not just a feeling or emotion that changes.  For my love for ice cream can change if I eat an entire gallon of it.  In fact, Love of money, love of pleasure, love of fame, love of power, can become something very dangerous even deadly to the human soul. 

When Jesus tells us today, ‘love one another’.  He explains what love means. Love is laying-down your life for someone.  Love means freeing slaves; not controlling other people. 

St. Paul tells us that love is patient and kind. It requires humility, and perseverance.  Paul even says if you go throughout life without this sort of love than your life is like a clashing cymbal—meaning, you are going through life just making a bunch of noise.

When Jesus uses the word love he’s talking about completely unselfish: self-sacrifice for the good of another is the stuff that true love is made of; loving, not just when it is easy, but when it is hard.  Self-sacrificial love is something all Christians are called to practice.  I tell married couples you will have a happy marriage if you practice this sort of Christ-like love for each other.  God designed marriage to be like this.

And the same goes for all Christians.  We will grow in holiness and joy and find authentic fulfillment to the extent that we practice true Christ-like love.  And the rest is just a bunch of noise.

With Christ-like love today may we love God and our neighbor as we should, for the glory of God and salvation of souls.