The day and the night of love

It is the vocation of every single human on the planet to work with imperfect people, and to do so out of love. We see imperfection in students who are works in progress. Imperfection is seen on a daily basis by the people who live and work with you and me. Loving the imperfect will necessarily demand sacrifice. The immaturity of adolescents, though at times quite entertaining or heart-warming, can also be equally frustrating and not heart-warming. I know that my foibles provide those I live with delight (for a time), and then lead to annoyance. Yet, we are not only called to meditate on the Lord’s law to love in the daytime of love - when it feels good or rewarding. True blessedness comes from meditating on the command to love when we experience the nighttime of love - when it produces annoyance and frustration, when love can be a cross and a sacrifice. It is then, when we find ourselves in the dark, that we have the greatest assurance that we are in the company of Christ crucified.

The psalmist will call us blessed (Ps 1:1-2), Jesus will do the same (Mt 5:3-12). Perhaps today as we are finishing our last bit of grading, as we take on day 2 of 40 in Lent, we can recall that it was precisely to accompany us in our struggle to love as the Father loves that the Word became flesh. It was for the Passion that Jesus predicts in today’s Gospel that He came, so as to be one with us in everything. And more than that, it was through that Passion that He has given meaning to each and every one of the pains which love’s sacrifices give us. In this way, Jesus gives us, in our nighttime of discomfort, annoyance, and suffering... precisely in our nighttime - He gives us the means of union with Him. 

Let us not begrudge our cross.
It is our connection to His, and so to the joy of following Him.

Author: Thomas Croteau, SJ, Theology Department