To speak about love is something quite common in the life of an apostle. We speak of love in many ways: love of God, love of neighbor…Of course, this is correct and good; however, I think there is also a danger that we must watch out for: the danger of getting accustomed to the word, using it as if it were merely some apostolic rhetoric.
The consequences are severe. If the Apostle utilizes the word “love” as a crutch, the reality of authentic Christian love begins to lose weight. Instead of transforming the anemic vision that the world and many young people have of love, we end up perpetuating it or even confirming it.
What do we think of those who have received the true answers – Catholics – who speak, quote and defend love as if it weren’t something heart-wrenching, or as if a minute decision would suffice to obtain it, to turn life around, and to reach holiness. Or worse, given that Christians represent the Lord, what if some began to believe that Christ himself doesn’t understand what it means to love.
Hannah’s Love
The video that we decided to publish today can, I believe, be helpful in generating an interesting reflection about love and the importance of speaking of love in an incarnate way (one based on reality, aware of the situation in which one is speaking). Just because the world, and especially young people, have a very reduced vision of love doesn’t mean that they don’t suffer from the lack of it. To believe that love is “a beautiful feeling” does nothing to heal and satisfy the deep hunger of authentic Christian love.
This is very palpable in Hannah’s testimony – we see it: in her longings, her fears, and in her hopes. Love isn’t a child’s game, and the Christians –in the first place Mary and, in the second, all the Church’s martyrs, know this better than any. “Love” is too big to fit the world, but still, if someone is competent to speak about it, it would be those disciples of He who loved us to the extreme. For this reason: how sad is an apostle accustomed to love.
If we have already discovered in our life He who is Love-made-man, don’t fall into the snare of satisfied routine. Routine kills the spirit. Routine kills love. Let us be renewed each day in that encounter of authentic love with Him, with his Sacred Heart. Only in this way will our apostolate be authentic and will we be able to speak of love as something truly real in our lives, as Christ himself would do.
