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The Power of Love

Of all religious symbols I think it is fair to say that the most familiar and perhaps most popular is the cross. Christians are baptised with the sign of the cross. They begin their prayer with the sign of the cross. The cross is hung in church buildings and religious institutions. It is placed on top of monuments and displayed in many of our homes. It is even worn as a piece of jewellery around the neck and in the form of a broch.

So why does the cross have such significance for us? To quote the words of a well-known song by the late Johnny Cash, ‘This thing called love.’ For Christians the cross is above all a symbol of love. It is the symbol of the love we all hunger for, desire and need.

We cannot separate is the cross from love. The cross makes no sense apart from love. Jesus changed the cross from a symbol of failure and death to a symbol of victory and hope by his radical love. Jesus lived by the ‘rule’ of love and he died in fidelity to this love.

“God so loved the world that he gave his only Son” (John 3:16). These are perhaps the most quoted words of scripture, displayed in all sorts of places and for all sorts of gatherings. The greatest and most powerful revelation of God’s love was the death of his own beloved Son on the cross. The cross is the symbol of the unconditional love that God has for each and every human person. As we gaze at the cross how could we doubt that we are infinitely loved, how could we refuse to accept that we are cherished, precious, valued? Through the symbol of the cross God says to each one of us, “I love you.”

Unconditional love is the greatest power in the world. It has the power to motivate, to liberate, to heal, to transform. It even has the power to change death into life. The power of the cross is the power of unconditional love. This is why Jesus said, “When I am lifted up on the cross I will draw all people to myself” (John 12: 32). It is why the followers of Jesus continue to find hope and comfort in the cross. And it is why the cross will always be the most used and most popular religious symbol of all.

Lord Jesus, each time I bless myself with the sign of the cross may I remember that you love me personally, intimately and unconditionally.

Some Advice

We know from the gospels that Jesus gave the people he had chosen as his companions a share in his ministry. He sent them out to preach the good news, to proclaim the Kingdom. To help his inexperienced disciples in their mission Jesus gave them instructions. Carrying out these instructions would ensure that their ministry would bear fruit. In the advice Jesus gave his disciples three things stand out.

1. The disciples were not to travel on their own, but in pairs, two by two. Jesus knew the importance and value of companionship. Indeed, the first thing he did when he began his ministry was to gather a group of companions around him. We need people in our lives who give us encouragement and support, people who lift us when we are sad and celebrate with us when we are glad. We also need people with whom we can have soulful conversations, people who know us at a deep level and who accept unconditionally the stories of our lives.

2. The disciples were to take no excess baggage, only the things they needed for their work. Jesus did not want unnecessary things cluttering the lives of his young missionaries. He did not want them to lose their focus, to get distracted especially by material possessions. One of the traps we can fall into is accumulation. Accumulation only clutters our lives and pulls us away from what is essential. Jesus’ life and work were focused on the building of relationships. It needs to be the same for us. Our focus too needs to be on creating and sustaining caring and compassionate relationships.

3. The disciples were to bless in a special way those who offered them hospitality. In the Jewish tradition hospitality was a sacrament; indeed it was the primal sacrament. By welcoming others, both friends and strangers, and inviting them to sit at table the Jews believed they were welcoming and feeding the Lord himself. There are two types of hospitality. One is hospitality of the table. This focuses on our material needs. We are asked to feed the hungry, shelter the homeless and care for the sick. The second is hospitality of the heart. This responds to our emotional needs. We are invited to listen to those who need to talk, affirm those who feel inadequate and comfort those who feel lonely. Both hospitality of the table and hospitality of the heart put flesh on the care and companionship of Jesus. Together they are a powerful sacrament of the presence of the Lord in our lives.

A Feast in August

A number of times each year the Christian community remembers Mary, the Mother of Jesus. One of these occasions occurs on 15^th August. This celebrates what happened at the end of Mary’s earthy life. It is known as the Feast of the Assumption.

From earliest times there was a conviction among the people of God that when Mary’s life on earth came to an end her body did not experience corruption and the decay of death. In other words, when her earthly was over, Mary was taken as she was into the glory of heaven. It is significant that Mary does not have a tomb. There is no burial place at which to venerate her.

The Feast of the Assumption proclaims Mary as our beacon of hope. Where she is now, we one day hope to be. Her destiny is our destiny; her destination is our destination. The Assumption of Mary offers us an opportunity to remember that we are a pilgrim people. We have here no lasting city. Our true homeland is in heaven. Our big thing is in the future; the best is yet to come. The truth is we will not be happy until we get to where Mary is, until we experience what Mary is experiencing, until we share fully in the life and love of God. God has made us for himself and our hearts are restless until they rest in God.

The Feast of the Assumption of Mary affirms that she was taken up body and soul into heaven. Her body was sacred and as she left this world it was immediately transformed into a glorified body. In the Apostles’ Creed we profess our belief in the resurrection of the body. Like Mary, our bodies will also be included in our experience of resurrection, not immediately, but eventually. For this reason it is important that we respect our bodies and take good care of them. Taking care of our bodies means a healthy diet, proper sleep and regular exercise. It means not taking risks that may harm our own bodies and the bodies of others. Taking care of our bodies also means listening to them for they often reveal what is going on inside of us, especially what is happening in our emotional life.

Reminding the young church at Corinth about the sacredness of the body this is what St Paul said: “Do you not realise that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you and whom you received from God? You are not your own property, then; you have been bought at a price. So use your body for the glory of God” (1Cor 6:19-20). The feast of the Assumption reminds us that Mary used her body for the glory of God. It is an invitation to us to do the same.

My Surrender Prayer

Abba God,
I welcome everything that comes to me today.
I welcome all persons and situations, thoughts and feelings.
I let go of my need to accumulate.
I let go of my need to be busy.
I let go of my need for approval.
I let go of my need to feel important.
I let go of my need to be in control.
I let go of my need to change others.

Abba God,
I accept your unconditional love.
Help me to recognise your presence in my life.  Amen.

See the Good

There are two sides to every story. There are also two sides to every person; the good side and the not so good side. Unfortunately, often the not so good side tends to dominate. We have a tendency only to see the bad and the good becomes blurred, indeed neglected.

In the Gospel we meet a little man called Zacchaeus who was a victim of the tendency in human nature to see the bad (see Luke 19:1-10). His fellow Jews saw him as a tax collector and therefore as a traitor and a thief. For them he was a bad person, someone to be shunned, isolated and rejected. We can have no doubt that Zacchaeus was hurting inside.

When Jesus met Zacchaeus he too saw a tax collector. But he also saw something more, something better, something good. He saw the capacity for generosity and care in Zacchaeus’ heart. Instead of rejecting Zacchaeus, Jesus accepted him. He chose to dine in Zacchaeus’ house. Jesus’ attitude to Zacchaeus changed his life. He became a different person. His potential for good was awakened and he put his wealth at the service of the poor.

So what about us? When we look at other people what do we see? Do we see the good or the bad, the positive or the negative? If we see the good in others we open up a world of opportunity for them, we bring out the best in them. If we see the bad in others, we limit them, we imprison them, we confine them to a black hole.

And when we look at ourselves what do we see? When I look at myself do I see the good or the bad, the strengths or the weaknesses, the successes or the failures? Is my picture of myself a positive one or a negative one? It is a fact that many people carry within themselves a poor self-image and low self-esteem. There are obviously reasons why some people do not feel loved and lovable. But the objective truth is that everyone is made in the image of God, everyone is loved unconditionally by God and everyone is offered the same friendship of Jesus that Zacchaeus was offered. Each one of us is a good but weak human being. While we have a tendency to focus on the negative, Jesus always focuses on the positive.

The challenge for each of us is not to allow the imperfections, the flaws, the weaknesses to dominate the way we see ourselves, others and indeed the world around us. Human nature may be full of imperfection and failure, but it is essentially good and, in the end, the good will prove victorious.

From the Inside Out

For many people religion involves keeping rules and regulations. It is about duty and obligation. Keeping rules and doing our duty does of course have some merit, but this can make religion an external thing lacking inner conviction. The truth is external religion may not serve us well in times of suffering and struggle. Furthermore, it may not be very appealing to those who are searching for a life-giving faith. If religion is identified with observance of the law it is likely to be off putting and unattractive.

Jesus didn’t have a problem with the role of observance in the practice of religion; he knew laws are necessary. However, Jesus did have a concern if our observance of the law is not an expression of what is in our hearts. This was his issue with the group known as the Scribes and Pharisees. For these ‘religious people’ observance of the law was mainly for show, it was to get notice and attract attention. The Scribes and Pharisees didn’t practice their religion for the right reasons. Their religion wasn’t genuine. In fact, it was often hypocritical.

Jesus had the ability to spot when there was some disconnect between our inner and outer lives. He knew that public behaviour didn’t necessarily reflect inner character. It was our inner lives that Jesus was most concerned about. Jesus would say, ‘Of course what we do matters, but what matters more is where this doing is coming from.’

The religion of Jesus is a religion of the heart. It invites us to explore our motivation. What is our motivation for keeping the commandments? Why do we go to church? What is the real reason we pray? Why do we respond to people who are in need? It is our motivation that defines who we really are. This is why it can be said that the Christian life is a purification of motive. It is what is in our hearts that influences the way we live and the way we act. The best way to change our behaviour is to change our hearts.

On many occasions Jesus encouraged his listeners to explore the reasons for their behaviour. One of these occasions is known as the Sermon on the Mount. This sermon is an invitation to discover the spirit behind the law and to act in an intentional way. Ultimately, it is a request to live from the inside out. To be a follower of Jesus two transformations are necessary. One is personal, the other is social. Personal transformation needs to come first. The truth is we cannot change the world unless we first change ourselves.

Our Need for a Spiritual Path

“Among all my patients in the second half of life—that is to say, over thirty-five—there has not been one whose problem in the last resort was not that of finding a religious outlook on life. It is safe to say that every one of them fell ill because he had lost what the living religions of every age have given their followers, and none of them has been really healed who did not regain his religious outlook.”

These are the words of the renowned psychiatrist, Carl Jung. His experience of those in crisis was significant. When the crisis comes, and it will, we either find a spiritual path or we get stuck in depression and/or addictive behaviour. Finding a spiritual path requires us to surrender; self-sufficiency keeps us in a cycle of attachments and addictions.

There are many different spiritual paths available to us. Some are highly structured and require a lot of discipline; others involve a commitment to the practice of a few core values. A spiritual path gives us a sense of meaning and purpose. It provides us with a way of dealing with painful experiences like hurt, abuse, rejection and negative feelings like anger, resentment, jealousy. It also helps us feel connected to the divine presence in our lives. For many this connection with the divine presence is an experience of unconditional love, forgiveness and protection that they have never felt before.

A spiritual path needs to have three elements. These are prayer, companionship and service. Prayer builds our relationship with the divine. Companionship is the experience of affirmation, support and soulful conversation. Service is the essential movement beyond ourselves in response to the needs of others. If our spiritual path does not have these three elements it lacks balance and perhaps authenticity. It is important to remember that every spiritual path is not an end in itself but a means to an end. There is always the danger that we will make an idol of our spiritual path. If we become too attached to our spiritual path we are putting the path itself in the place of God. The ultimate purpose of every spiritual path is to help us surrender to God who loves us unconditionally and who wants us to come home with empty hands. “You have made us for yourself, O God, and our hearts are restless until they rest in you” (Saint Augustine).

The Heart’s Journey Home

In childhood we are wounded through no fault of our own. It is the inevitable result of growing up. Because of our wounds we develop a false self and fall into bondage. We become separated, estranged from our original blessing, from the image of God within us, from our true selves. As a result we feel lost, in exile, away from our true home. We are held captive by false expectations and addictions, exploited by our culture. We build our lives around accumulation, achievement and the constant need for human approval.

Our human condition needs liberation; it needs the healing and wholeness which is salvation. We need to make the journey home, to be brought back from exile. We need to discover who we are in God; to be reconnected with our original identity, our belovedness. This, in fact, is the primary purpose of religion. It is certainly what the mission of Jesus was about. Jesus sought to liberate people from their bondage to possessions, power and prestige; from seeking happiness in the wrong places. He realised that people needed to be restored to their original blessing, their true selves. He knew people needed to be helped to claim their belovedness. This is why his focus was on healing the wounds in the human heart that make us feel unworthy and inadequate. It is why he constantly invited people to an inner transformation, to a dying to the false self and a rising to the true self.

The story of humanity as a whole and of every person as an individual can be found in the story Jesus told about the Prodigal (see Luke 15:11-32). This is the story par excellence of our homecoming, of the journey our hearts need to make. It is the story of a son whose search for happiness in accumulation, achievement and the approval of others ended in dissatisfaction, disappointment and eventual destitution. It is the story of a man whose experience of falling and failing led him to realise that he was looking for happiness in the wrong places. It is the story of a son who returned home with empty hands to find his father waiting for him with open hands. It is the story of love experienced as gift, not achievement or requirements. It is the story of a father, a prodigal father, whose unconditional love healed his son’s feelings of unworthiness and shame and reconnected him with his original blessing, his belovedness. It is the universal story of what needs to happen in the life of every person if he or she is to experience healing and wholeness.

Caring for the Earth

With the publication of ‘Laudato Si’ Pope Francis has certainly brought spirituality down to earth! The earth is God’s good creation and our common home and we have a responsibility to look after it. Care for the earth is both a political imperative and a personal one. We may not have much of a say in influencing political decisions but we can make personal decisions that will create a difference.

There is no doubting the fact that our consumerist lifestyle is having a huge impact on our environment and on climate change. Why do we need to consume so much? Why do we find it difficult to say, ‘We have enough?’ It is true that material possessions are a source of comfort and satisfaction. But there is a deeper reason why we consume. It has to do with a misguided search for happiness. Consumerism has us look for happiness in the wrong place, in things outside us. The love we long for can only be found within. Unless we fill the hole we have inside with the right kind of love we will continue to indulge ourselves.

Care for the earth also involves the choices we make around the use of energy. Of course we need sources of energy in our homes, our places of work, our rural and urban environments and indeed for transportation. But do we need to be so wasteful with them. Why drive half a mile to the local shop if we can walk? Why leave our computers on if we are not using them or our televisions beaming if we are not watching them? Why keep our central heating systems pitched high while we walk around our homes and offices in shirts or blouses? These questions may sound a bit petty but they point to unnecessary waste. If we do not stop exploiting the resources of the earth we will leave little for future generations. Needless to say a decision to stop wasting requires personal discipline, something that doesn’t come easy to human nature.

Then there is our use of materials like plastic, paper and cardboard to mention a few. The production of these materials in such volumes is putting pressure on our natural resources and is polluting our waters and our countryside. We could be described as a disposable generation. But the convenience of disposables comes at a cost. Do we really want an earth whose beauty is contaminated and whose natural rhythms are quickly becoming imbalanced and out of tune? What would the Creator say about our treatment of his creation?

Of course caring for the earth is about caring for the poor of the earth. It always seems to be the poor who suffer most. They are certainly suffering from the consequences of a ‘western’ lifestyle that cannot get enough, that is consuming and wasting to an alarming degree. Climate change is affecting the poorer regions of the world much more than it is affecting the wealthier regions. Famines caused by droughts and homelessness caused by flooding are more common in Africa and in Asia. This is an undeniable fact. A capitalism and consumerism that seeks to put the interests of the so called ‘first world’ first creates a hostile environment for those who are struggling to make ends meet. Ultimately care for the earth is about the practice of justice and a pathway to peace.

Our Human Experience

Christians believe that God is a Trinity of Persons, Father, Son and Holy Spirit. In other words, Christians believe that there is a community life in the reality we call God. One way to find out what this means is to read the Scriptures. Another way is to explore our human experience. If God has created us and our world, and if God is Trinity, then the Trinitarian life of God must be reflected in our human lives in all sorts of ways.

An obvious way is our social nature. We are social beings. We create relationships and we sustain relationships. In fact, without relationships we wither and die emotionally, even physically. John Donne once said that no man is an island unto himself. We cannot survive in isolation. It is in living with others, it is in loving others, that we find meaning and that we become our true selves.

Another way is the power of cooperation. When it comes to a project, a task, an undertaking, the best results are usually achieved when there is cooperation, when people work together as a team. Ask any sports person, any project manager, any government and they will tell you that the team effort is the best effort, it is the most fruitful and successful effort. It is also the effort that gives most satisfaction and fulfilment to all those involved.

Then there is the unity of creation. One of the things we are becoming more aware of today is the way creation functions. The created world is interdependent. One part of it affects another. For example, the cutting down of the rain forests in South America has an impact on climate patterns in Europe and Africa. The laws of nature are finely balanced and when they are allowed to work together in unity and harmony they fulfil their purpose.

And finally, there is this attempt by a woman to describe what trinity means in her life:

“I am a daughter and a wife and mother – three things, yet I am one totality. To my parents, I would always be their child. To my husband, a companion and a mate. To my children, the one who gave them birth and nurtured them till they reached adulthood. I seem to each of them a different person. They each know a different kind of ‘me.’ But I am one, within myself a trinity and each of them finds unity in me.”