Love's Simple Purpose

Today's Readings

Today's Scripture continue the First Letter of John, and caps off the purpose of love as a way of allowing God to be present for others.

"God is love, and whoever remains in love remains in God and God in him."  (1 John 4:16)

This is to say that living a life of love, allows God to remain in one's life.  Therefore the purpose of loving is to keep God present, and recognizeable.  Now I must confess that a personal rant of mine continues to evolve into something that God is trying to teach me.  The rant is this: What gives us humans the notion that God is dependent on us to exist for His creation?  That is, how do we see ourselves so powerful, that our habits, preferences, options and dare I say rituals, become so crucial that God cannot possibly do His job without our preferred approach to sharing Him with others?  Are we that important, that God can't be God without us?  I would answer that the intent of our ritual, and preferred practices of loving our neighbor are very important, and that these are the ways that we attempt to agree and define what God is calling us to do.  But I would also add that we are called to simply love one another, as God has loved us.  We must allow God to be God, and do so in His time as He works into the hearts and minds of others.  When love turns into concern for another's salvation and well being, to the point where we are trying to control their lives based on our expectations, and time line, we should stop, and allow God love to move as He wills it.  In these times, we are called to be patient, present and supportive.  In other words, walk the journey with your neighbor, and don't try to spare them the details, to hurry the conclusion.  God loves them, and so do you... The Good News reassures us that He will take care of things.

After Jesus led and fed the 5000, he needed to be alone to pray.  The Gospel of Mark tells us that the disciples launched out onto the boat, leave Jesus on the shore for a while.  When a storm blew in, and the boat was tossed and turned, Mark witnesses that Christ walked out onto the rough water, causing the disciples to think they were seeing a ghost.  But he reassured them.

“Take courage, it is I, do not be afraid!” He got into the boat with them and the wind died down."  (Mark 6: 50-51)

No one prefers the storms of life.  Ask those who were effected by hurricanes Sandy or Katrina, and they will all say that the storm was hell.  But like the disciples in the boat, these folks were reassured of God's presence as they were greeted by the love of their neighbors.  Imagine yourself in the 9th Ward of New Orleans, or the neighborhoods of coastal NYC, New Jersey, or Connecticut.  Now imagine the feeling, in the dark of night, of someone coming to your aid.  I'm sure that a few folks thought they too were seeing a ghost or two.  But thanks to these wonderful neighbors, the storm subsided, and the work began.

The "storms" of life come to us all, and somewhere alone the way, there is a neighbor offering to help and share God's love.  I would suggest that one take that love, and allow their neighbor to help.  Like Christ, they are there to simply say, "take courage, it is I, do not be afraid."  So, in conclusion, we are called to love one another, so that God's love can be present, always keeping in mind that God is God, and we are not.  Today's Psalm offers us the challenge to model the love of God:

"For he shall rescue the poor when he cries out, and the afflicted when he has no one to help him." (Psalm 72:12)

We should all consider accepting this challenge and simply love our neighbor so that, in "stormy times", they can take courage and know that they are not alone.