How easy it is, in time of ease, for us to become dependent on our routines, on the established order of our day-to-day existence, to carry us along. We begin to take things for granted, to rely on ourselves and on our own resources, to "settle in" in this world and look to it for our support. We all too easily come to equate being comfortable with a sense of well-being, to seek our comfort solely in the sense of being comfortable. Friends and possessions surround us, one day is followed by the next, good health and happiness for the most part are ours. We don't have to desire much of the things of this world - to be enamored of riches, for example, or greedy or avaricious - in order to have gained this sense of comfort and well-being, to trust in them as our support - and to, take God for granted. It is the status quo that we rely on, that carries us from day to day, and somehow we begin to lose sight of the fact that under all these things and behind all these things it is God who supports and sustains us. We go along, taking for granted that tomorrow will be very much like today, comfortable in the world we have created for ourselves, secure in the established order we have learned to live with, however imperfect it may be, and give little thought to God at all.

Somehow, then, God must contrive to break through those routines of ours and remind us once again, like Israel, that we are ultimately dependent only upon him, that he has made us and destined us for life with him, through all eternity, that the things of this world and this world itself are not our lasting city, that his we are and that we must look to him and turn to him in everything. Then it is perhaps, that he must allow our whole world to be turned upside down in order to remind us it is not our permanent abode or final destiny, to bring us to our senses and restore our sense of values, to turn our thoughts once more to him - even if at first our thoughts are questioning and full of reproaches. Then it is that he must remind us again, with terrible clarity, that he meant exactly what he said in those seemingly simple words of the Sermon on the Mount: "Do not be anxious about what you shall eat, or what you shall wear, or where you shall sleep, but seek first the kingdom of God and his justice."

Father Ciszek was convicted of being a "Vatican spy" in World War II and spent twenty- three years in Soviet prisons. (Died 1984)

Suffering and Happiness

"We are in difficulties on all sides, but never cornered; we see no answer to
our problems, but never despair; we have been persecuted, but never deserted;
knocked down, but never killed; always, wherever we may be, we carry with us in
our body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus, too, may always be seen
in our body." (2 Cor 4:8-10)

"I want you to be happy, always happy in the Lord; I repeat, what I want is
your happiness. Let your tolerance be evident to everyone: the Lord is very
near. There is no need to worry; but if there is anything you need, pray for
it, asking God for it with prayer and thanksgiving, and that peace of God,
which is so much greater than we can understand, will guard your hearts and
your thoughts, in Christ Jesus." (Phil 4:4-7)

Certain people look upon religion as a type of enslavement. Religion, claim
these people, puts shackles on one's desires for full living, pleasure, and
happiness.Religion, they continue, makes one fearful, forces one into a rigid
pattern of do's and don'ts which restricts and even suffocates a person's
thrust toward full personality development. Whatever the causes may be for
arriving at this view, such an attitude grossly misrepresents the nature of
true religion.

Jesus has come to make us happy, not to make us participate in a religion
which destroys the joy-dimension of human life. Jesus has come to increase our
capacity for true self-fulfillment, not to restrict us with a religion which,
while encouraging morbid self-enclosements, destroys possibilities for healthy
self-expansiveness. Jesus has come to show us the way to real pleasures, not to
prevent us with a religion which looks askance at such. And the happiness and
fulfillment Jesus has come to give us is meant for this life, not only for
eternal life. Christianity is a religion which gives a here-and-now happiness
which develops into a future and eternal happiness which satisfies our deepest
desires to be fully alive.

Jesus has not promised us that the process of achieving happiness is
without pain and suffering. Jesus was the happiest man who ever walked this
earth. He was also the man who suffered the most. Observing the life of Jesus
Himself, then, we come face to face with this undeniable Christian truth:
suffering, even deep suffering, is not incompatible with deep happiness. On the
contrary, whether we experience suffering or whatever, such an encounter is a
means to further happiness, providing we are living in Christ Jesus.

The Christian who is not fundamentally happy presents, then, a
contradiction. He or she claims to be a follower of the Jesus who has promised
more abundant life and happiness. To remove the contradiction, such a Christian
must look to himself or herself. Such a person does not lack a basic happiness
because there is anything wanting in Jesus' message. This person lacks
happiness because there is something wanting in the self. In some way or
another, for some reason or another, this person has failed to assimilate
properly the Gospel message. The Gospel is the good news. Jesus invites us to
listen to His Gospel, to respond to it, to live it ever more fully and
dynamically. Jesus tells us that, if we do, we will experience a peace and
happiness beyond comprehension. We know that Jesus does not lie, that Jesus
does not deceive, that Jesus does not cruelly excite the expectations of His
followers and then fail to fulfill them. Again, then, if a Christian is
unhappy, he or she has to look at the self and ask why. But such a person
should not ask the question in isolation. It should be asked in the company of
Jesus. Jesus will help the person find the answer. Jesus will help remedy the
situation.

The Love Dimension

"If I have all the eloquence of men or of angels, but speak without love, I am
simply a gong booming or a cymbal clashing. If I have the gift of prophecy,
understanding all the mysteries there are, and knowing everything, and if I
have faith in all its fullness, to move mountains, but without love, then I am
nothing at all. If I give away all that I possess, piece by piece, and if I
even let them take my body to burn it, but am without love, it will do me no
good whatever." (1 Cor 13:1-3)

Jesus has told us love is what it's all about. Christianity, the religion
of Jesus, is a religion of love. This is what Jesus wants us to realize. This
is what we must realize. We understand the work of the Incarnation when we
consider it in terms of love. We ourselves live Jesus when we live the love
ethic He came to preach. Love marks the beginning of a truly Christian life.
Love is also its main inspiration and motivation. Love is no less its goal. To
be a Christian is to be a follower of Jesus. To be a follower of Jesus is to
assimilate His message of love. To be a Christian, then, is to be a lover-in
imitation of Jesus Who is the tremendous lover.

Jesus shows us His Heart as symbol of His life of love, including His
mighty and tender love for each of us individually. His Heart calls for our
return of love. His Heart invites us to pour out our lives in love of God and
neighbor.

As we do so, love expands us, makes us grow, develops our capacity to be
authentically and to become authentically. Love brings to mature expression the
various potentialities of Christian personhood. It makes us what Jesus wants us
to be. Christian love is meant to express itself at all times in all kinds of
circumstances. It is truly a virtue for all seasons. Whether it is a time to
laugh or a time to cry, it is a time to love. Whether it is a time to rejoice
or a time to be sorrowful, it is a time to love. Whether it is a time to
experience exhilarating success or to suffer the anguish of crushing failure,
it is still a time to love. Whether it is a time to work on despite boredom,
monotony, and lethargy, or a time to be carried along riding the crest of
enthusiasm, it is a time for love. Love's labor is never done; there is no day
which is not meant to be a love-day. Love should be as constant and as certain
as the never-failing cycle of night following day and and day following night.

The Eucharist

"Then he took some bread, and when he had given thanks, broke it and gave it to
them, saying, 'This is my body which will be given for you; do this as a
memorial of me.' He did the same with the cup after supper, and said, 'This cup
is the new covenant in my blood which will be poured out for you.'" (Lk
22:19-20)

In the Eucharist, through the humanity of Jesus, Father, Son and Holy
Spirit communicate themselves to us anew. Through the intimate gift of the
Eucharist, they strikingly manifest their love for us and ask for our response
of love. In, with, and through Jesus we respond. Each experience of the
Eucharist is meant to strengthen our love-bond with Jesus, so that we can say
with increased meaning along with St. Paul, "For I am certain of this: neither
death nor life, no angel, no prince, nothing that exists, nothing still to
come, not any power, or height or depth, nor any created thing, can ever come
between us and the love of God made visible in Christ Jesus our Lord." (Rom
8:38-39)

The Eucharist not only deepens our union with God in Christ. In receiving
the Eucharist we pledge ourselves to deepen our love-union with all members of
the Body which is the Church. We pledge to use those means which foster union.
We determine to avoid that which causes selfish divisiveness.

The Eucharist also reminds us of our relationship with all members of the
human family. Jesus died and rose for all. The Eucharistic making present of
this paschal mystery nourishes our determination to assist in the work of
ongoing redemption. The light we receive from the Eucharist points to what we
should be doing. The strength of the Eucharist assists us to act according to
the light we receive.

The Eucharist, then, possesses the rich capacity to help us maintain and
develop our personal relationship with God, with members of the Church, and
with all other members of the human family. And it will do just this-if we so
allow it.

To Choose Jesus

"Then Jesus said to the Twelve, 'What about you, do you want to go away too?'
Simon Peter answered, 'Lord, who shall we go to? You have the message of
eternal life, and we believe; we know that you are the Holy One of God.'" (Jn
6:67-69)

Even after years of close friendship with Jesus, a Christian can decide to
make a radical break and go his or her way. In the mysterious depths of one's
free will, a person decides, for whatever reason, no longer to walk side by
side with Jesus. This Jesus, who was once such an inspiration, who so often
manifested His mercy, who offered a challenging goal to achieve the true, the
good, and the beautiful, who whispered His loving and tender concern-this Jesus
is now rejected.

On a lesser scale, a Christian can variously reject a deep intimacy with
Jesus while still fundamentally maintaining the friendship. It may be a case of
superficial living in general. Jesus keeps calling to a more dynamic Christian
existence, but the person keeps resisting, because he or she is fearful, or
perhaps just too lazy, or whatever. Or it may be the barrier between the person
and Jesus is more pin-pointed: Jesus is asking a very definite something, and
He is refused. Such a Christian presents a paradox. The person knows there is
no other way but Jesus, and, therefore, he or she basically commits one's life
to Christ. On the other hand, the person does not commit oneself as fully as
one could, and thus seems to be saying, "You are the only one, Jesus, who can
lead me to real happiness here and hereafter-but I don't want to follow you too
closely."

The only mature Christian attitude, we know, is to choose Jesus once and
for all, and to live out the full implications of this choice. Of course, there
will be failings on the part of the Christian who makes this option for Jesus.
But he or she will strive to avoid developing that attitude which says, "I will
go so far with you, Jesus, but no farther. I want to come close to you, Jesus,
but not too close." To choose Jesus, then, and to live this choice
consistently, dynamically, lovingly, and without reserve, is true Christian
logic. It is to realize with Peter that Jesus is the one and the only one.

God Is Love

"I am the good shepherd: the good shepherd is one who lays down his life
for his sheep. The hired man, since he is not the shepherd and the sheep do not
belong to him, abandons the sheep and runs away as soon as he sees a wolf
coming, and then the wolf attacks and scatters the sheep; this is because he is
only a hired man and has no concern for the sheep. I am the good shepherd; I
know my own and my own know me, just as the Father knows me and I know the
Father; and I lay down my life for my sheep." (Jn 10:11-151)

He hung upon a cross on a hill called Calvary. Death was near. How much
Jesus had already suffered! He had been brutally scourged. Much of His sacred
body was a bloody, open wound. He had been derisively crowned with thorns. In a
terribly weakened condition, He carried the heavy cross to the hill of
Golgotha. There He was stripped of His garments and mercilessly nailed to the
cross.

Truly the Good Shepherd had laid down His life for His sheep. That
magnificent Heart, overflowing with love for His Father and all of us, had beat
its last.

Jesus' life was a life of love. He mightily loved His Father and all of us.
The poverty, the hiddenness, the disappointments, the accomplishments, the
weariness, the joy and the happiness, the pain and the agony-all that
constituted the earthly life of the Incarnate Son of the Father, was
experienced within the framework of love. Jesus, Who is divine and human, was
the great man that He was as He walked this earth because He loved
tremendously. He loved in everything He did-tenderly, manfully, with
understanding and sympathy. He loved with complete devotedness and a deep
concern for the individual. He loved with a passion for that which was true and
beautiful and good. He loved with a complete conformity to the Father's Will.
He loved always and completely. He loved with the gift of Himself, always
pouring Himself out, even to the point of death. He gave Himself in love to His
Father and to us until there was no more to give.This was the poignant beauty
of Christ's life. He was a giant of greatness because He was one Who loved
tremendously.

We can be tempted to reject this marvelous example of Christ. We can seek
our greatness and fulfillment in a manner that necessarily results in
disappointment. We can strive after greatness in ways that God does not intend.
These wayward wanderings, however, result in a feeling of dissatisfaction and
frustration. If we follow these false leads, we will eventually come to realize
that they have betrayed us. Indeed, these wayward wanderings possess the
potential for nothing but betrayal, because they are not rooted in Christ and
His way of life-which is the way to true greatness.

We must incessantly remind ourselves of the example that Jesus has given
us. We must deepen our realization that our fundamental greatness consists in
what we are, and we are to the extent we love God and others. St. Paul, in his
own inimitable way, tells us of this: "If I had all the eloquence of men or of
angels, but speak without love, I am simply a gong booming or a cymbal
clashing. If I have the gift of prophecy, understanding all the mysteries there
are, and knowing everything, and if I have faith in all its fullness, to move
mountains, but without love, then I am nothing at all. If I give away all that
I possess, piece by piece, and if I even let them take my body to burn it, but
am without love, it will do me no good whatever." (1 Cor 13: 1-3)

Our greatness, then, lies in our relating in love to both God and
others-yes, even to that vast majority whom we will never see or know directly,
but whom our love can nevertheless reach out and touch because of our union
with Christ. With Christ, there are no space barriers, and, therefore, uniting
our love to His can unite us to people the world over.

We grow as Christians through a life that is centered in love within the
milieu of the human condition. This is the only framework we have for achieving
our greatness, our true personhood, and, consequently, we must not shirk the
human condition. Jesus did not shirk it, but rather accepted it and manifested
His greatness within it, despite the pain and agony that the human condition at
times heaped upon Him. It is true that Jesus rejoiced during the course of His
life because of the goodness, sincerity, and response of some of those with
whom He dealt. The love that Mary and Joseph showered on Jesus, for instance,
gave Him great joy. During His life, however, Jesus often suffered because of
the evil side of others-their pettiness, cowardice, insensitivity, selfishness,
egotism. In other words, Jesus suffered at the hands of others because they
were not what they should have been. However, these experiences did not thwart
the greatness of Jesus. He was always what He should have been. Jesus was
always the tremendous lover, and He loved even at those times when it was very
painful to do so.

Our own greatness in Christ, our growth as Christians, can develop smoothly
and joyfully because we, in a special way, experience the goodness and love
within the hearts of others, and this makes it easy for us to love as we
should. Sometimes, however, the less wholesome side of others crowds in upon
us, and we find it difficult to go on loving as we should. In the same way that
Christ suffered because of others, we, too, as we try to love, suffer because
of others. We suffer because others do not always understand us-this can be
true even of those who dearly love us. We suffer because some do not appreciate
what we do for them, and sometimes what we do exacts great personal cost. We
suffer because others either reject us or make us the objects of their meanness
and selfishness. We suffer because there are some who ignore us. At times we
suffer so much that we are tempted to withdraw from the pain of giving
ourselves in love into an egotistic enclosure of self-seeking, where, we think,
we will no longer suffer at the hands of others, or at least will not suffer so
much. To surrender to such a temptation, however, is to forget what Christian
greatness really is, namely, a life of love for God and others, a love that
does not shrink from the pain that results from loving in an imperfect world, a
love that is meant to become greater and more selfless regardless of the way
other might treat us. Love, then, accepts both the joy and the pain of life and
carries on under both conditions. Yes, we are made for love.

The first letter of John tells us: "God is love and anyone who lives in
love lives in God, and God lives in him. Love will come to its perfection in us
when we can face the day of judgment without fear; because even in this world
we have become as he is. "In love there can be no fear, but fear is driven out
by perfect love: because to fear is to expect punishment, and anyone who is
afraid is still imperfect in love.

"We are to love, then, because he loved us first. Anyone who says, 'I love
God,' and hates his brother, is a liar, since a man who does not love the
brother that he can see, cannot love God, whom he has never seen.

"So this is the commandment that he has given us, that anyone who loves God
must also love his brother." (1 Jn 4:16-21)

Reflections on Love

~ The more love matures, the more it concentrates on the present. Love
welcomes each day with a fresh joy and a renewed gratitude to God for the
opportunity to once again be and become for Him and others. Love realizes that
it does not fully possess the past or the future-it can only fully grasp the
present, and it loathes to waste any of the preciousness which "the now" offers.

~ Love is gentle, love is tender. Love is sensitive to the gentleness in
nature. It is moved by the softness of the freshly fallen snow, the coolness of
an autumn breeze tenderly stroking the brow, and the softness of the grass in
May-time greenness. Much more important, love is sensitive to the need for
gentleness, for tenderness, in human affairs. Consequently, love gently
comforts the grief-stricken parents of a child so tragically and suddenly
snatched away in death. Love gently encourages those to whom life seems
hopeless. Love sensitively tends to the needs of those who are so often and so
easily forgotten. Yes, the gentleness of love manifests itself in these and in
many other ways, and, in so doing, imitates the gentleness, the tenderness of
Jesus Himself: "Jerusalem, Jerusalem, you that kill the prophets and stone
those who are sent to you! How often have I longed to gather your children, as
a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, and you refused!" (Mat 23:37)

~ The fact that love is gentle does not mean that it is not strong. It is
precisely this, and the blend between its tenderness and its strength
constitutes one of love's most attractive traits. Love is strong in many ways.
It is not discouraged by the evil in the world that threatens to thwart the
accomplishments of love's goals. It realizes that the strength of goodness is
mightier than the force of evil and that ultimately love wins out. Love is also
strong in bearing with the temporary failures that are experienced in the
pursuit of its purpose. Although love may be disappointed, it nevertheless
realizes that the only failure it cannot conquer would be love's refusal-love's
failure to go on loving-and true love will never quit. Love is strong in its
willingness to take the necessary means to achieve its goals, even though this
might entail great personal cost or cause misunderstanding, or even cause pain
to those who are the recipients of this love.

~ Love is secure. A person who properly loves is in touch with one's true
self and realizes that he or she is tremendously loved by God. Such a person
feels secure in the exercise of love towards others. He or she feels secure
enough to extend love towards others in various ways, even when little or no
love is returned.

~ Closely allied to love's feeling secure is love's intuition in realizing
the evils of possessiveness. Love does not try to possess the person one loves,
but leaves the other free. In fact, authentic love for the other makes the
other more free and helps the other to grow in all ways, including growth along
the paths of real freedom. The one who loves authentically leaves the other
free to grow in all sorts of ways, for example, to relate to other people and
to undertake new things, activities which might well make the loved one less
accessible.

~ Love is reconciliatory and integrative. Loves hates divisiveness. It
knows the difference between diversity and divisiveness. It knows that healthy
diversity reflects the varied richness of human existence and is something to
be desired. It knows, too, that divisiveness is the sworn enemy of community.
Divisiveness perniciously eats away at those bonds of love and union that are
meant to unite the members of God's human family. Love, consequently, works to
promote the integrative process which unites us and human events according to
God's holistic plan, a plan in which the numerous and richly diversified parts
become increasingly beautiful the more they contribute to the health and
functioning of the whole.

~ Love is trusting. Regarding a person's relationship with God, this
attitude grows in proportion to the atmosphere of love. As one grows in the
realization of how much God loves him or her, and responds with a love of his
or her own, trust in God matures and is a dominant facet of one's daily
existence. A serenity of spirit becomes more obvious as the person grows in the
awareness of both how much God cares and how supportive His loving embrace is,
come what may.

This attitude of trust also characterizes one's relationships with others.
One who is exercising true love is not naive or oblivious to the fact that one
can be needlessly hurt by this: that one's trust can be betrayed. On the
contrary, one who loves realizes that there is certainly an evil side to human
nature, but, nevertheless, prefers to concentrate on the basic goodness of the
human heart. This positive focus allows a person to trust that people not only
will frequently act according to this goodness, but, as a matter of fact, will
actually be encouraged to do so when they themselves are the recipients of a
true and sincere love.

~ Love is affirming. By the very fact that one loves another, the other is
encouraged to be and to become according to his or her uniqueness. Being loved
enhances a person's sense of worthwhileness. A person who is loved is
encouraged to develop his or her uniqueness, to feel more at home with oneself,
and to accomplish further the special mission in life that only he or she can
fulfill.

~ Love is patient. Love realizes that, for the most part, the growth of
God's kingdom occurs at a very gradual pace. Sometimes this growth process
seems exceedingly slow, and a person is tempted to wonder if the efforts of
love are actually producing any effects. Patience conquers this temptation,
however, and enables love's work to continue. Patience consequently helps
prevent the waste of talent in the work of the kingdom. It seems that certain
talented people have never realized their potential in promoting Christ's cause
precisely because they were not patient enough with others and themselves.
Patience is a virtue that is not much discussed, but is nevertheless extremely
necessary.

~ Love is not proud, is not egotistical. Love is interested, of course, in
the self and the good of the self. One who loves authentically, however,
realizes that the love of one's true self is based on the awareness that one
has been created and redeemed by God's love, that one has been endowed with
various gifts by the Creator, and that these gifts are to be exercised in the
loving service of God and others. Love, then, does not become selfishly proud
in its accomplishments. Rather, love realizes that God is the ultimate source
of personal accomplishments, that one can achieve only what God helps a person
to accomplish. Love is very much aware of Jesus' words that without Him we can
do nothing.

~ Love is both universal and specific. Love is universal in that it
excludes no one. For example, love includes all members of the human family in
its prayer. Love is very much aware, however, that one can say he or she loves
everybody, but be sadly lacking when it comes to manifesting love in various
ways according to the concrete setting of every day. True love, then, does not
shy away from the painful aspects of loving specific individuals in definite,
concrete circumstances. Admittedly, such a service of love can be difficult,
demanding, and unattractive in certain ways. Personality flaws in others, or
particular personalities that are not attractive to the one who is trying to be
of help, or indifference, or even hostility on the part of those one strives to
serve-these and other realities are a true test of a person's willingness to
concretely implement one's avowal that one does indeed love his or her neighbor
as the Lord commands, even when it is difficult to do so.

~ The Christian's fundamental relationship is his or her union with God in
Christ. The more one realizes how much God loves him or her as this unique
individual, and the more the person responds to this love, the greater the
happiness. If this basic love relationship with God in Christ is alive and
healthy, everything else in life falls into place. There may be problems, at
times very severe problems. There may be great suffering. But all of this
becomes bearable for the one who feels reasonably secure in God's love. A poll
has been taken which finds that unhappiness is about five times greater among
non-religious people than among people who would be classified as being very
religious.

The saints' progress in holiness was accompanied by their conviction that
God loved them mightily. We also have to allow the realization of how much God
loves us to accomplish our ongoing transformation in Christ. Since it's true
that God loves each of us so uniquely, so intimately, why don't we take greater
effort to arrive at the existential assent to this consoling truth? By an
existential assent we mean one which reaches deep down, an assent which
permeates our being so thoroughly that it erases and makes repugnant the
thought of compromising for a life of spiritual mediocrity. At times we
foolishly shy away from God's love. We foolishly think that to give ourselves
ever more to this love, to allow it to possess us more radically, will mean
that our lives will be too much hemmed in, too much cut off from the pursuit of
our self-designed ideas of happiness. If we succumb to such a temptation, we
become similar to the prodigal son who thought happiness existed elsewhere than
in his father's house. His pursuit of this false happiness ultimately ended up
in his willingness to eat the food given to pigs. We ourselves are not totally
blameless. To the extent we refuse to be more possessed by God's love, and
choose to be directed by it, to that degree we also are willing to settle for
food which is unworthy, food which can never satisfy our true cravings.

~ Love is contemplative. It realizes it must sustain and develop a
contemplative awareness of reality if it is to love properly. To relate in love
to reality as we should means that first we must view reality according to its
true nature, that is, we must see things according to our faith vision. Jesus
has left us with the proper view of God and creation. Jesus has told us how to
relate to God and His creation, how to love. This faith vision must be
consistently actualized through a contemplative or prayerful awareness of the
people, events, and circumstances that are part of our daily lives. If we fail,
for example, to see people as they really are in their core existence, namely,
as created and redeemed by God's love, and instead allow ourselves to be
absorbed by more superficial aspects of their persons, then we will not love
them as we should.

Love seeks, therefore, a certain degree of solitude in order to nourish
this contemplative attitude. A person cannot hope to exercise a contemplative
awareness throughout the myriad and often complex happenings of daily existence
unless there are periods of withdrawal during which one can drink more deeply
of the wisdom which contemplation offers. A person must conquer the temptation
that deceitfully suggests that the seeking of solitude is a selfish desire to
flee the pain of human encounter. Authentic solitude is never selfish; rather,
it is a renewed opportunity for refurbishing both one's contemplative vision
and one's determination to love more maturely according to this perspective.

~ Love knows what love really is, and this awareness is a result of love's
contemplative thrust. One of the truths that emanates from the act of
contemplation is the realization of what actually constitutes true love. This
is no small accomplishment, for, despite the numberless volumes that have been
written about love, one can still have only a blurred idea of what it really
is. Giving love is the gift of self to promote the authentic good of the other
loved. Being loved is receiving the other's gift of self as a help in achieving
one's real good.

The manner in which the gift of self is made is commensurate with the type
of relationship. A doctor gives himself or herself to one's spouse in one way,
to one's children in another, to one's patients in yet another way, and to his
or her friends in a way that is still further differentiated. Whatever way the
gift of self is made, however, it has the same basic goal in mind, namely, to
promote the real good of the other. Love realizes that it is not always easy to
discern what really promotes the true good of the other. However, despite this
difficulty, love is aware of its true identity. Love, in short, knows what love
really is.

~ When we experience love-hurt in abundant measure, we can be tempted to
think that it may be better not to love at all. But a moment's mature
reflection tells us otherwise. We are made for love. We are to love God and
human persons. The only way we can grow is to love. Despite the pain, we have
to love if we want to grow, if we want to be happy, if we want to be what God
destines us to be. At times, and especially when the love-pain is particularly
keen, we should look at the example Jesus has left us. He came upon the earth
to love. He did not flinch, He did not renege. He did not quit loving when it
was painful to do so-even when it became agonizingly painful to do so. This is
the poignant beauty of His life.

~ "After saying this, what can we add? With God on our side who can be
against us? Since God did not spare His own Son, but gave Him up to benefit us
all, we may be certain, after such a gift, that He will not refuse anything He
can give. Could anyone accuse those that God has chosen? When God acquits,
could anyone condemn? Could Christ Jesus? No! He not only died for us-He rose
from the dead, and there at God's right hand He stands and pleads for us.

"Nothing therefore can come between us and the love of Christ, even if we
are troubled or worried, or being persecuted, or lacking food or clothes, or
being threatened or even attacked'

"For I am certain of this: neither death nor life, no angel, no prince,
nothing that exists, nothing still to come, not any power, or height or depth,
nor any created thing, can ever come between us and the love of God made
visible in Christ Jesus Our Lord." (Rom 8:31-39)

Thoughts About Christ

From the spiritual classic, The Imitation of Christ, we read: "Make room
for Christ. When you possess Christ you are a rich man, for he is sufficient
for you. He himself shall provide for you and faithfully administer all your
cares. You will not have to place your hope in man. Put all your trust in God,
let him be both your fear and your love. He will respond on your behalf and
will do whatever is in your best interest.

"You have here no lasting city. For wherever you find yourself, you will
always be a pilgrim from another city. Until you are united intimately with
Christ, you will never find your true rest.

"Let your thoughts be with the Most High and direct your prayers
continually to Christ. If you do not know how to contemplate the glory of
heaven, take comfort in the passion of Christ, and dwell willingly in his
sacred wounds. Endure with Christ, suffer for him, if you wish to reign with
him.

"Once you have entered completely into the depths of Jesus, and have a
taste of powerful love, then you will not care about your own convenience or
inconvenience. Rather, you will rejoice all the more in insults and injuries,
for the love of Jesus makes a man scorn his own needs."2

Fr. Paul de Jaeger, S.J., writes: "Why do we not once and for all spread
wide the sails of the ship of our trust? Did we but do this, how utterly our
lives would be changed! How this would enable us to ride before the wind, to
ride fast towards the greatly desired anchorage of perfect union with Jesus!
Only when she had made strong her trust did St. Teresa of the Child Jesus,
trust's great Saint, set out to walk the ways of divine love. From that day on
her life was changed. Is that not our need also? Would that for us too this
change could be made without delay, could be made this very day! Would that,
making a supreme effort to respond to the full to the infinite goodness of
Jesus in the Eucharist, we could bid a final farewell to all our cowardice, to
all our vain fears, to all things conducive of faulty trust'"3

Fr. Peter van Breeman, S.J., observes: "The matter of joy in the risen Lord
has a great deal to do with faith, for a sad Christian is really not an
authentic Christian. In this regard the words of Mother Teresa of Calcutta are
impressive. She has devoted her life to the lowest form of human misery; her
days are wholly taken up with the sufferings and the sorrows of the most
forsaken. And, yet, her words are unqualified: 'Never let anything fill your
heart with so much grief that you forget the joys of the risen Lord.' These are
the words of a woman of faith'Mother Teresa can work with the poor because she
has Christ's own intense joy and gladness in her heart. It is this which makes
her so radiant, so appealing. For this reason people flock to her, and she is
able to console them truly, not just with money or medication-she has too
little of these-but above all with the true consolation that comes from faith,
the faith embodied in her own life."4

Our Father

The Catechism states: "By calling God 'Father,' the language of faith
indicates two main things: that God is the first origin of everything and
transcendent authority; and that He is at the same time goodness and loving
care for all His children. God's parental tenderness can also be expressed by
the image of motherhood, which emphasizes God's imminence, the intimacy between
Creator and creature. The language of faith thus draws on the human experience
of parents, who are in a way the first representatives of God for man. But this
experience also tells us that human parents are fallible and can disfigure the
face of fatherhood and motherhood. We ought therefore to recall that God
transcends the human distinction between the sexes. He is neither man nor
woman: He is God. He also transcends human fatherhood and motherhood, although
He is their origin and standard: no one is father as God is Father."5

The Holy Spirit in Our Lives

The Catechism succinctly explains the role of the Holy Spirit in our lives:
"Jesus is Christ, 'anointed,' because the Spirit is his anointing, and
everything that occurs from the Incarnation on derives from this fullness. When
Christ is finally glorified, He can in turn send the Spirit from his place with
the Father to those who believe in him: he communicates to them his glory, that
is, the Holy Spirit who glorifies him. From that time on, this joint mission
will be manifested in the children adopted by the Father in the Body of his
Son: the mission of the Spirit of adoption is to unite them to Christ and make
them live in him."