"The Great Lover"

Learning the words is easy. Living them is literally the work of a lifetime. It is the centerpiece of our Christian journey. And it requires dedication, re-dedication and re-re-dedication… constantly focusing, staying on task, recommitting and recharging. It is demanding, but it is not drudgery. Love is the ultimate healthy habit. But no matter how we labor at love, we don’t create it. It is a gift from God meant for us to nurture and return, given to us to pass along in the spirit of the Great Giver… the Great Lover of all.

But don’t confuse Christ’s lesson of love with the sentimental moonshine that popular culture teaches us to expect. Jesus knew precisely what he was asking when he summarized what God expects of us. He knows our obligations, our limitations, our conflicts. Loving God and neighbor does not dismiss any of these realities. It puts them in perspective. Large or small, we must bring love to the tasks of today. We work in the love of God. We eat, sleep and rise in his presence. Every task is an opportunity to return and to spread his love. The joy, the sorrow, the boredom, the routines of our day: all are there to be undertaken in love. As Mother Teresa reminds us: “It is not how much we do that is pleasing to God, but how much love we put into the doing.”

Love God. Love neighbor. Learn it. Live it. Rejoice in it… as God rejoices in you. 

God love you!