with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another through love
3 Not only that, but we even boast of our
afflictions, knowing that affliction produces endurance, 4 and
endurance, proven character, and proven character, hope, 5 and hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out into our
hearts through the holy Spirit that has been given to us.
Wherever
your treasure is that is where your heart is and our hearts are made for the
Lord. Fear of the Lord means that we have a father/son relationship of
care, respect and love. Our God does not want to be objectified as some
obtainable good. Nor does our God want to be appeased with our prayers
and obedience. God is not an insurance agent that guarantees us against losses
if we pay our premiums in prayers. If God is our treasure, he is our
star, our life, our everything.
In the
Apostolic Exhortation Evangelii Gaudium of the Holy Father Francis, he states:
We have a treasure of life and love
which cannot deceive, and a message which cannot mislead or disappoint. It
penetrates to the depths of our hearts, sustaining and ennobling us. It is a
truth which is never out of date because it reaches that part of us which
nothing else can reach. Our infinite sadness can only be cured by an infinite
love.
I am reminded of the love of Don Quixote in the play
“Man from La Mancha”. If God is our treasure he should be our Impossible Dream because we are His.
“Man from La Mancha”. If God is our treasure he should be our Impossible Dream because we are His.
Amoris
Lætitia[1] Growing in conjugal love, a love that reveals itself and increases (133-135)
The love of friendship unifies all aspects of marital life and helps family members to grow constantly. This love must be freely and generously expressed in words and acts. In the family, “three words need to be used. I want to repeat this! Three words: ‘Please’, ‘Thank you’, ‘Sorry’. Three essential words!” “In our families when we are not overbearing and ask: ‘May I?’; in our families when we are not selfish and can say: ‘Thank you!’; and in our families when someone realizes that he or she did something wrong and is able to say ‘Sorry!’, our family experiences peace and joy.” Let us not be stingy about using these words, but keep repeating them, day after day. For “certain silences are oppressive, even at times within families, between husbands and wives, between parents and children, among siblings”. The right words, spoken at the right time, daily protect and nurture love. All this occurs through a process of constant growth. The very special form of love that is marriage is called to embody what Saint Thomas Aquinas said about charity in general. “Charity”, he says, “by its very nature, has no limit to its increase, for it is a participation in that infinite charity which is the Holy Spirit… Nor on the part of the subject can its limit be fixed, because as charity grows, so too does its capacity for an even greater increase”. Saint Paul also prays: “May the Lord make you increase and abound in love to one another” (1 Th 3:12), and again, “concerning fraternal love… we urge you, beloved, to do so more and more” (1 Th 4:9-10). More and more! Marital love is not defended primarily by presenting indissolubility as a duty, or by repeating doctrine, but by helping it to grow ever stronger under the impulse of grace. A love that fails to grow is at risk. Growth can only occur if we respond to God’s grace through constant acts of love, acts of kindness that become ever more frequent, intense, generous, tender and cheerful. Husbands and wives “become conscious of their unity and experience it more deeply from day to day”. The gift of God’s love poured out upon the spouses is also a summons to constant growth in grace. It is not helpful to dream of an idyllic and perfect love needing no stimulus to grow. A celestial notion of earthly love forgets that the best is yet to come, that fine wine matures with age. As the Bishops of Chile have pointed out, “the perfect families proposed by deceptive consumerist propaganda do not exist. In those families, no one grows old, there is no sickness, sorrow or death… Consumerist propaganda presents a fantasy that has nothing to do with the reality which must daily be faced by the heads of families.” It is much healthier to be realistic about our limits, defects and imperfections, and to respond to the call to grow together, to bring love to maturity and to strengthen the union, come what may.
This day in 1964 was the premier of the movie, “My Fair Lady.” It is
one of my daughter Nicole’s favorite movies.
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