As I wrote last week, I had to go to jury duty again today to see if I would be seated. I had already prepared my coworkers and employers and family by changing a few commitments around, just in case. I was actually almost looking forward to being on the jury as a community service and example to some who go to great lengths not to sit on juries. Like last week, when I heard several outlandish “excuses” why someone couldn’t possibly sit on a jury. The judge was unmoved. He gave them a choice—either continue through the process of this jury, or ask for a deferment of service that could put them on a jury of longer service. About 10 or so got their deferments. If they had waited until today, they would have been excused for the rest of this year and all of next year because the case was settled! Ah, sweet justice!
As a result, I was able to take most of today off as I try and recover from this cold. I am feeling better tonight, so I thought I would resume my daily postings and occasional meditations.
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In Friday’s gospel Christ insists that the first, most essential Commandment is learning to know and to love God with our entire being. The reason is that God is the origin and only source of a love that is pure, unbiased and unconditional. Because Love is God's very Nature and Being, and He is our Creator, Father and Teacher, we must learn from Him to love as He loves or we stay ignorant or become liars.
Nowadays we use the word "love" to express our enjoyment of practically anything. “I love sports.” “I love that movie.” “I love Brussels sprouts.” Ok, maybe not the last one—but in consequence, we have clouded its true meaning which describes a human relationship that is deep, durable, caring and devoted to the good of the other.
Sadly, "love" is now being used to describe merely the physical unions that omit the previous description and also any responsibilities or commitments connected with the act. Therefore, the objects of such a "love" are easily changed whenever one partner feels mired in boredom and seeks innovation.
Genuine love may begin with physical attraction but it soon inspires a mutual respect, a restraint that builds a sense of trust, personal worth, and well-being. True love seeks to better know the other, their moral views, life's ambitions, hopes and even human weaknesses, problems that need to be known, understood and addressed.
God has made the ultimate sacrifice by sending us His only Son in human flesh to show us precisely what genuine love is, a total self-giving, especially if it means saving the life of another, in His case the entire human race. How can we learn to truly love others? It can only take place through prayer by approaching Christ with the desire to obtain His help in improving our relationships; then remaining quiet and attentive to Him, He will speak to our hearts. This world's hatred, violence, greed, thievery and lust, a mere few of our sins, result mainly from refusing to hear and obey God's Word. Deafness to conscience, permissiveness (NOT “intolerance”) and self-gratification, are destroying morality.
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