All you need is love. (Really?)

I took a hiatus from blogging for a lot of reasons. First, because things got crazy(er than usual) with all of the good-bye-ing and the last ditch efforts to do everything I wanted to do while living in Philadelphia (it didn't happen). From Philly, I spent a night at home then went directly to the summer camp where I had spent the previous 4 summers. My feelings there were a mixture of what-am-I-doing-here and it-feels-like-I-never-left. From camp, I went on a cruise with Katelyn and her family. We stopped in St. Thomas and St. Martin. Again, there were mixed feelings: don't-worry-I-can-bus-my-own-table and gosh-it's-nice-to-be-taken-care-of. From the Caribbean, I went to Casey's house for a week and then, finally, my own house for a week. Both places had their own mixtures of feelings that are not as simply broken down, so we shall leave it by saying that both were good places to be at the time.
Now, I am living and working at Mount Irenaeus (http://mounti.com/), which will simply be called "the Mountain" from now on. Talk about mixed feelings; or rather, the dominant feeling being distressed. I am doing better now, and I'm realizing it may take me a while to get used to this new lifestyle. So, the plan is to be patient with myself, and learn and experience as much as possible. Now onto the real subject of this blog...
It's strange having a job where my love for others, instead of being constantly tested and stretched to its very limits, is constantly reaffirmed. I love the students I work with, and I want to do my very best for them. I love the men with whom I am living; they are genuinely Christian and human and crazy, which are probably three of the best adjectives I could ever use to describe people. In the struggles I have been having with this transition, I have experienced an absolute downpour of love from those I am closest to. My parents and friends could not be more supportive and loving. When told that I was having difficulty sleeping for a few weeks, I was more often than not told, and by people who really meant it, to pick up the phone at any hour of the day or night just so I did not have to be alone. My rantings and whinings were listened to by sympathetic ears, and by people who certainly had other things to do. I have had difficulty in the past reaching out and asking for help, but these people made it so that I didn't even need to ask. Amazing.
So, I've been thinking a lot about love lately. Much of it has centered around two incredible statements I've heard in the past year. Fr. Bill at the Inn said in a homily once, "You can't have love without forgiveness, and you can't have forgiveness without love." Br. Kevin here at the Mountain said in a shared homily that "There is no such thing as conditional love." He went on to say that when you place conditions on love you turn it into a business transaction and then, obviously, it is no longer love. Both of these ideas keep coming back into my mind as I begin anew here, and reflect on my past year at the Inn. What a huge responsibility it is, to love other human beings. Sometimes it is just something that comes so easily it pours out of you; other times it must be a conscious decision. That decision can be so difficult sometimes. I think, though, that is where the true beauty of love lies, in that people are willing to take that difficult path of being kind and loving, rather than the quick and easy path of being cruel and full of hate.

PS. I've been waiting to use this as the title for a blog entry for a long time. Both the song and the statement alone have been significant in various areas of my life. I once sang it at the top of my lungs in the quad at Siena; I've been known to text it at opportune moments to certain friends of mine. This one's for you :)