A Return to hope... ultimately to love!

THE WORD IN LENT - Saturday, Third week in Lent

March 29, 2025 - Hosea 6:1-6; Luca 18: 9-14

The discourse on Obeying the Lord, that we have been having in past few days, is brought to its climax today, as the Word declares - what God wants is love and not sacrifice! That is the secret: a return to hope actually is ultimately, a return to love! We are called to love and everything in life has to be an expression of that love - the two tier love that is presented to us: love of God and love of the neighbours. 

Love and not sacrifice is a dictum that can communicate three fundamental messages to those who are serious about Christian Spirituality: 

First of all, it is a shift from the doing paradigm to a being pardigm. We are challenged to concentrate on who we are  at the core of our beings and make our doing a simple and sincere expression of what we are. The other way cannot make me neither christian nor spiritual - that is trying to do a lot of things and from there intending to define my identity. That would lead to the peculiar problem of today - the secularisation of faith. 

The second message is to liberate ourselves from ourselves and focus more on the other! What I do, what I give up, what good things I accomplish - these are of course important elements of discussion, but a true Christian spirituality would redirect me to look at the other, what the other needs, what the other feels, and what the other experiences on a daily basis.

Thirdly, it is a reminder of the precedence and centrality of love in Chrisian Spirituality. When done out of sincere love, everything goes well with the Lord. That is why Augustine dared to say, "love and do what you wish!" What we do, might end up a failure, not bear the right effects, not result in anything lasting... but if it is really done in love, the Lord would approve of it - and we would go home justified!