DAILY DEVOTIONAL
Saturday, May 19, 2018

Is the practice of Holy Love worth the risk?

And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love. – I Corinthians 13:13

I performed 1, 407 weddings in my pastoral career, and I think nearly 100% of those weddings included those words. Paul’s words are not only theological inspirational, they are also written with literary brilliance. That climactic word, like the resounding bell of a cathedral, …Love!

The human spirit is in much need of Faith and the human spirit is much in need of Hope. But the most desperate human need and its corresponding and satisfying most beautiful grace is … LOVE! Romantic love is but one share of this Love. Brotherly and sisterly love is but one share of this Love. But at the essence of this Love is the embrace of the Divine, this Divine that can abide within us, the Divine that can be found in those about us, the Divine that flows through us and upon which our lives do flow.

We use the word “love” quite casually, sometimes even thoughtlessly, when we ought to be cherishing the word “Love” with due reverence. The “Love” that begins in the heart of our Creator and the Creator of us all and all the processes of all Life is the very heartbeat of Life, the source of all that is good.

Yet, as a human species, we tend to not trust in the power of Love. We would rather trust in the power of swords, the power of threats, the power of patriotism, the power of money, the power of pride and self-sufficiency. To actually trust in the power of Love is among those who actually trust in the person, the teaching, and the mission of Christ … to manifest Divine Love in the living of a lifetime bestowed.

This Life of Love will know rejection, as Christ knew rejection. The Life of Love will require sacrifice, as Christ knew sacrifice of self for the sake of the Loved Ones. The Life of Love will know its frustration, as Christ knew frustration as He wept at the walls of Jerusalem. Yet the Life of Love will know its fulfillment, its joy, its satisfaction, its Beauty and its Grace. And the Life of Love will ultimately be victorious in one’s soul and in this world.

“And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.”

Always in Christ’s Service,
Fr. Charitas de la Cruz