If you but knew the gift of God

I love some of the thoughts of Bernard Bro. He writes on Jesus and the power of love: Jesus loves as a pure gift, for the sake of nothing...He makes others better by loving them. Not only does he not accuse their mediocrity, although it is his full right to do so--he takes up their defense and gives his heart, his time, his trust.

I tend to forget that Jesus loves differently than I do, for Jeusus does not love for gain, or for need. He loves for the good it does me, and that kind of love is in itself a healing and empowering thing.

This is the kind of love Jesus invites me to follow. Think of the lives I might change if I offered a love that did not accuse or seek some selfish gain! Think of how I could help change the world if I gave a love that healed the despondent, bruised, or wounded heart and gave that heart hope?

Bro goes on to say: He [Jesus] calls forth, arouses, renews the best part in us, the part that is good and filled with hope and is always hidden in each and every person...and everyone who meets him once again begins to believe, to have trust in God and in themselves.

That line, renews the best part in us is worth all of my knowledge and learning. For if what is good is brought forth, I will leave behind that which drags me down and injures. And when I have trust in God and in myself, I have already conquered, regardless my circumstances.

"I desire mercy, not sacrifice," we read in Hosea 6:6. The words are more than poetic. They contain the secret to true power and change. As John 4:10 says, “If you but knew the gift of God.” God’s way of loving us is true gift. And  Lent is a good time to search and  remember that love, and pass it on.

How pleasant when we come together

It's a memory from long ago. I was standing in the monastic choir, chanting the Liturgy of the Hours, and we came to psalm 133, How good  and how pleasant it is when brothers and sisters live together in unity! It is like precious ointment on the head, running down upon the beard, Upon the beard of Aaron, upon the collar of his robe."

I remember stopping at that verse and thinking just how lucky I was, to live in community, to be surrounded by those with similar goals, ideas and values. 

I mourn that loss to this day.

That is why, when reading Irvin Yalom, I am fascinated at the clinical benefits of community. I know the spiritual benefits. But Yalom tells us, there are immense clinical and emotional benefits: People need people--for initial and continued survival, for socialization, for the pursuit of satisfaction. No one--not the dying, not the outcast, not the mighty--transcends the need for human contact.

Jesus asked me to love my neighbor, to leave my gift at the altar if I need to be reconciled with a brother or sister, to love my neighbor as myself. And I see, it has far reaching consequences. It isn't just for feeling good. It isn't even for spiritual growth. It also affects my mental health.

Science proves that when I feel loved and accepted by others, I am willing to take more risks, to take on more responsibilities, to be bold. I am emotionally, and also spiritually, healthier.

No man (or woman) is an Island. Each needs the other.