Love is in the air

Yesterday I wrote that I had been thinking about love and now it appears as though I am doomed to continue thinking about it whether I want to or not. Bear with me while I give you a little background. Today, Franciscans celebrated the feast of Francis receiving the stigmata. Two of Francis' greatest desires in life were to experience the love Jesus felt for us, and also to experience the pain that Jesus went through for us. He became the first person ever recorded to actually receive the wounds of Christ, thereby fulfilling one of his desires. It really is beautiful how Francis bore the extreme pain of these wounds, all for the love of God and man.

Students came up to the Mountain this evening for a little relaxation, a home-cooked meal, and Mass. I had been asked to help by opening the homily and, when I looked at the readings for the day, I was blown away. The first reading was (what else could it be?) 1 Corinthians 12:31-13:13 which contains the famous lines "if I have all faith so as to move mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. If I give away everything I own, and if I hand my body over so that I may boast but do not have love, I gain nothing. Love is patient, love is kind. It is not jealous, love is not pompous...Love never fails." This was replaced, though, by a different reading in Franciscan circles because of the feast. I was amazed by the idea that that could be the reading. I was kicking around ideas with Br. Kevin before dinner about the homily and he seemed to have some good ones that actually pertained to the feast day, so I asked him to speak instead of me. When I heard his words, I was again blown away. He spoke of God's boundless love for us in sending his son, and the need for Jesus to die in the excruciating, humiliating way in which he did so that we could let him in to those parts of us that we find humiliating and excruciating. I wish I could remember all of his words because they were beautiful and left the entire chapel speechless for a few moments. It got me thinking about how we are called to love, and therefore are forced to face those parts of ourselves and others which are viewed as awful and embrace them, knowing that we all have that in common. Again, love is a huge responsibility to take on. And, like the stigmata, it can be incredibly painful but it is most definitely a gift.