Sixth Sunday of Easter
It is common for me to meet with couples who are at a critical juncture in their marriage. Sometimes the problem is about finances, communication, or divergent views on important issues. On rare occasions, there is a deeper problem - there is no love left. At least for one of them, not only is the love totally gone, but they do not even have the energy to try to rediscover it. I believe that if there is even an ounce of love, the relationship can be salvaged. But once love is lost, all is lost. Whether it is marriage, family, friendship, or work, once love is lost, everything is lost, is it not? What good is it if there is no love?
If religion was not about love, would you still be a believer? If heaven was not the fulness of love, would you still strive for it? If we did not know “God is love”, would we still love God? If salvation does not lead us into divine love, would we desire it? Think about these questions this week. All I can say is that of all the ways in which God is described in the scriptures, none motivates me to be a believer than John’s description, “God is love.”
Today’s liturgical readings dedicate the entire liturgy to “love.” In today’s scripture readings, the word “love” is found eighteen times– nine times in the second reading and nine times in the gospel reading.
Here are three points upon which I would like to invite you to reflect.
“Whoever is Without Love”
I wish that it wasn’t true – but we constantly encounter people who are without love. Mental illnesses aside, how does someone take a gun and shoot innocent people down? How do some people groom and pedal young people into human trafficking? How do people get to the point where human beings and the common good do not matter but only profit-making? How is it possible that some people can hate an entire race? “Whoever is without love,” John says, “does not know God” (1 Jn 4:8). In other words, lovelessness is godlessness.
Those who do gun-violence, engage in human trafficking, or exploit the poor are extreme realities of godlessness. That is not us. Perhaps the reality for us is closer to this – that we “know God,” but there are areas in our lives, or there are relationships where it is incredibly hard to let love hold sway. On Thursday, just a few days before Mother’s Day, I sat and talked with a woman who has had five miscarriages – the last one during Holy Week. She is very angry with life and at times even with God. Her faith in undaunted, but right now, but she is finding the concept of loving God rather burdensome. Similarly, for many of us betrayals, infidelities, or experiences of abuse and injustice can puts limits on our capacity to love. I have a prayer for us all. May we never reach the point where love does not have a chance in us. Because without love, all is lost.
“For God is Love”
Last November, as the pandemic still held sway over America, I offered a reflection on Faith, Hope, and Love. I used the writing of Thomas Aquinas to reflect on these themes. I remember saying that love or charity, for Aquinas, is the habit of choosing to be vulnerable enough to be drawn to “the good,” to love it, and to act accordingly. Today’s Gospel reading says, “No one has greater love than this, to lay down one’s life for one’s friends” (Jn 15:13). In Jesus, God becomes vulnerable – vulnerable enough to become human, vulnerable enough to love the most unloved, vulnerable enough to call us “friends.” Aquinas also describes the love of charity as being like the love of friendship. When we love our friends, Aquinas says, we open ourselves to enjoying them for their own sake and we wish good things for them. Jesus says in today’s gospel reading, “I have called you friends” (Jn 15:15). He then laid down his life for his friends. Hence John’s statement, “God is love” (1 Jn 4:8).
No other phrase has more meaning for me than the phrase, “God is love!” I have singularly devoted my life to God and religion. It is very important to me that, that for which I have devoted my life, is about love. As far as I am concerned, the church’s primary mission is to be a sacrament of love. If the church cannot be vulnerable and call the most vulnerable in the world, “friends”, then she fails to be faithful to her mission. God is love and the Church must be love. Because without love, all is lost.
To All Women of Love
Today is Mother’s Day. To all the mothers, I wish for you that, not only on Mother’s Day, but that you are always honored, valued, and loved like you are today. I think of my own mother. It is in her that I learned that God is love. On this earth, my mother is the one who makes it possible for me to believe that “God is love.” I thank her for this.
Today, though, my mind is with the three mothers for whom this Mother’s Day is incredibly difficult. I know them because I have ministered to them over the last few weeks. One mother buried her high-school teenager who died in his sleep. Another mother went into labor hoping to hold a baby in her bosom. Just hours before the delivery they found no heartbeat. And then, there is the mother who has had five miscarriages – the latest one during Holy Week. As Mother’s Day approached, I reached out to all three of them to comfort them, but more to prepare them for a difficult Mother’s Day. But there are countless others who grieve privately. There are also women who have desired a child and their dream did come to fruition. To all of these mothers, let me say this – you are not forgotten. Today, this community and I acknowledge you and thank you for being women of hope, strength, and courage. Often, you are the ones who show me that God is love. Many of you adopt children and nurture them as the fruit of your own womb. In spite of the pain you carry, many of you becomes educators, doctors and nurses in children’s hospitals, caregivers to children, or dedicate your lives to orphans. Today, you are also my heroes.
The Eucharist is a sacrament of love. Each time we celebrate the Eucharist we encounter Love. Having celebrated this Eucharist, may the world know through us that “God is Love!” Because without love, all is lost!
- Fr. Satish Joseph