My identity, my mission and a promise!
February 20, 2022: Seventh Sunday in Ordinary time
Samuel 26: 2, 7-9,11-13, 22-23; 1 Corinthians 15:45-49; Luke 6: 27-38
The more we love, the more shall we be loved... loved by the Lord, loved by our fellow beings, and loved by the entire universe around. It is not that the Lord God lays a condition to love us, but the fact is that, we shall be able to experience the unconditional love of God as much as we are ready to love one another. Today we have an interesting set of readings, that impress on us why David was loved by God and by his people, how God's love promises us a dignity that is incredibly immense and how love alone can set us apart as the people of God. It is not merely a romantic reflection on the value of love, but a concrete explanation of what it entails to really love!
To love is to forgive; it hurts, but it is my identity. At times love is imagined to be some kind of a pleasant feeling and ecstatic experience. But it is not all. Love involves hurts, pains and heart aches. It consists of forgiveness... showing the other cheek, blessing those who curse, and respecting those who vow to destroy you. True love hurts... not the one who is loved, but the one who loves. The one who loves, empties oneself to truly love the other. The best of example is the mystery of Incarnation itself - for God so loved the world that God gave God's only son as a ransom! Can we ask a question, 'why'? Why should God do this? The question does not stand, because it is the very identity of God. God is love.
We are called to the same mode of living, because that is our identity too! We are created in the image of God; God is love and therefore our image, our identity is love! Anything against it is a distortion of that image. Today when forces speak against and work against the Christian people and the Church, what do we do? We love. Our identity is love. In that love we forgive, we express compassion, we spread love! Be it in the family, or in the society, we need to keep this identity very clear. We are sons and daughters of Love, and therefore, love is our identity.
To love is to give; it drains me, but it is my mission. Love one another as I have loved you, said Jesus and one of the simplest proofs that he gave for one who loves is, Giving. One who loves gives. God loved, God gave - gave everything, absolutely everything. God loves, and God gives! If we love, we need to give, give from what we have and what we are, without measure, without expectation or without any self-benefitting agenda. If I am disciple of Christ, I cannot but give. Giving is a sign of love as a mission. I am sent to give, just as Christ came to give and was sent to give, give of himself, give everything, even his life! So am I, sent to give, because I am sent to love.
The Martyrs whom we celebrate and venerate... why do we do? Because they died? Because they suffered? Not all who are killed or not all who suffered are proclaimed martyrs...the Church has a wisdom behind to see if they were killed for the faith, if they suffered for their faith. Being killed for faith or suffering for faith means, carrying out the mission of love to the end. I am not sent merely to go and brainwash people and bring them to be baptised! I am sent to love people, to give of myself in love for the people, to give God's love to people! We can never lose sight of this, because to love is our mission.
To love is to trust; it may look delusive, but it is a promise! When I give and forgive, when I love and do everything for the other, I have a promise that can never fail. That the Lord my God will find me modelled after the image in which I have been created. That I shall attain the fulfilment of my life and life's purpose. David seemed a loser in the eyes of his companions who were with him, for he could have killed Saul and become the king right away! Jesus speaks of allowing ourselves to be robbed, cheated, taken for granted and being treated as the evil ones wish...I may look like a loser, but I am not! I have a promise and I rest on that promise.
When evil forces encamp against us and the wild beastly powers surround us in ambush, strangely we are called to love, to forgive, to give and to do good! It could be governments, or it could be hostile groups, or private individuals or brainwashed mobs... when someone is out there to hurt us and break us, what do we do? It is a pertinent question for a true Christian and a true Christian community any time - we remain firm and continue to love! We continue to serve, we continue to give, we continue to do all the good that we can. Because we are not doing it for the recompense, or for a recognition, or for teaching anyone a lesson. We do it, because we have a promise: that the God who looks on, has a plan for us!
Nothing should discourage us from loving, because it is our identity to love. Nothing can stop us from loving because it is the very mission that we have been sent with. Nothing needs to motivate us to love, because we have a promise, that when we love, we make ourselves loved. The more we love, the more shall we be loved... loved by the Lord, loved by our fellow beings, and loved by the entire universe around. Let us love, and be loved!