LOOKING FOR LOVE?

APRIL 22, 2007

Love is, no doubt, the most sought after and, it sometimes seems, the most elusive prize of human longing. It is the greatest human need and, therefore, the greatest quest of all people of all time. A love that is deep and sincere, stronger than death, real and enduring, rather than a fling, a sham, or a mere impulse of raw passion. So essential is love to our existence that, as the Servant of God, Pope John Paul II, put it, “man cannot survive without love.”

Life without love is a zombie existence! The Apostle Paul expressed the supreme importance of love when he wrote: “If I speak with human tongues and angelic as well but do not have love, I am a noisy gong, a clanging cymbal. If I have the gift of prophecy and, with full knowledge, comprehend all mysteries, if I have faith great enough to move mountains but have not love, I am nothing. If I give everything I have to feed the poor and hand over my body to be burned but have not love, I gain nothing” (1Cor 13:1-3).

Love, as everyone knows, cannot be manufactured or engineered in a laboratory. It cannot be induced by drugs, acquired by book study or technique, or purchased with wealth. Love is indeed priceless!

What does it take to find and know true love, to have one’s heart filled and overflowing with love? First, it takes not settling for anything less. It takes a belief that true love can be attained. The journey may be long and wearying, the search restless and difficult, and the cause sometimes seemingly hopeless. Yet, we must press on, believing that we were created for real love, and not for any of its shabby imitations. We must hold out against settling for anything less, because our hearts can never rest in anything less. We must have the courage to endure the quiet thunder of restlessness in our hearts until we have found true love – a love that we can possess completely, and a beloved who can possess us completely.

In God’s providential plan, man is created for woman, and woman is created for man. Romantic love, love based on natural attraction, is noble and good. It is intended to bring forth the fruit of new life into the world. There are other loves which are noble as well, such as love of family, love of friends and love of country.

Since there may be many in our lives whom we love and who love us, it is important, as a second point, for us to know that there is a greater love awaiting us beyond all finite human love, and we must know where may find it.

Pope Benedict, perhaps sensing the acute, unmet need for love in our time, has made love the preeminent theme of his papacy. His first encyclical reminded us by its title and contents that God Is Love. It is in God alone that our need for love can be fully satisfied!

Now, he has released his second major teaching document, an Apostolic Exhortation, The Sacrament of Love, about the Eucharistic Sacrifice of the Mass. How welcome this document is! So much has been said about the Mass in recent times, in an effort to help everyone better understand its meaning and the purpose for which Christ instituted it. Its very central meaning, however, has been so often overlooked, leaving many with an impoverished understanding of what the Mass is, and why it is important to attend Mass. The Mass is about love – the love of Christ, the bridegroom, for his bride, the Church. In the Mass, Christ is truly present. He speaks to us through the word of Scripture, and gives himself to us, entirely – body and blood, soul and divinity. It is very good theology to say that the reason we attend Mass is to let Jesus love us, and to love him in return.

Here are the words with which Pope Benedict begins his Apostolic Exhortation, The Sacrament of Love:

“The sacrament of charity, the Holy Eucharist is the gift that Jesus Christ makes of himself, thus revealing to us God's infinite love for every man and woman. This wondrous sacrament makes manifest that "greater" love which led him to "lay down his life for his friends" (Jn 15:13). Jesus did indeed love them "to the end" (Jn 13:1)... In the same way, Jesus continues, in the sacrament of the Eucharist, to love us "to the end," even to offering us his body and his blood. What amazement must the Apostles have felt in witnessing what the Lord did and said (during the Last Supper)! What wonder must the Eucharistic mystery also awaken in our own hearts!”

To all who are looking for love, I say: Come to Mass! Let Jesus love you! Don’t settle for a lesser love!

+Bishop Raymundo J. Peña

last updated 05-Jun-2008 9:48 sitemap