HELP SOMEONE LOVE
The purpose
of life is to know, love and serve God, but that is not enough. We must help
others to know, love and serve as well." (John XXIII)
One of the many charming
stories about lovable Pope John XXIII tells of the time he was discussing some
of the basic truths of our Faith with some leaders in the Church. Among other
things, Pope John asked: "What do you think is the purpose of life?" Several
gave answers in line with the usual and correct one, namely: The purpose of
life is to know, love and serve God in this world so that we can be happy with
Him in heaven. The Good Pope John smiled but shook his head. Finally he gave
the answer he was looking for: "You are right as far as you said -- the
purpose of life is to know, love and serve God, but that is not enough. We must
help others to know, love and serve as well."
As with so many other
teachings and practices of our Catholic faith, Pope John had given a basic
truth of our religion another dimension, another important angle. This is an
angle that we can apply to what Jesus tells us in today's Gospel, namely, that
the proof of our love for God is keeping God's Word, allowing the Holy Spirit
to teach us, following the Commandments and acting on them through the
Beatitudes.
An important point of the
Scriptures for this Sunday has to do with how we hear and see God's Word and
His love. It's one thing to think of love as intimate relationship, and another
to remember that we have love because God first loved us especially through
Jesus Christ. We need to fill our minds and hearts with God's goodness, so we
can witness the fullness of sharing His love. This will happen when we stop
putting limits on the power of our heavenly Father. The Holy Spirit touched
everyone within earshot. All of us who gather for worship, or during our own
prayer time, have are own struggles. That same human tendency to want to limit
what God can do only serves to block God's message from infusing the world.
Here are some questions to
ponder on today:
What limits do we put on God?
Whom do we feel doesn't deserve God's grace? A
class of people? Maybe ourselves?
Do we put heavy burdens on others?
Scripture passages direct us
to this same conclusion: That we don't need a scorecard to tell who's in the
realm of the saved. Love demonstrates who's who, as do the works and fruits of
the Holy Spirit. The markings of salvation are visible in those of us who act
out what we believe.
Our prayer is in the
responsorial psalm for today: "O God, let all the nations praise You"
(Ps 67). God rules; God guides the nations of the earth!