When you were a child, did you hear the old saying “for the love of God!”? Usually when I heard that phrase, I was being chastised for something I had done or exhorted to do something I didn’t want to do.
Friday’s Gospel opens and closes with the command to “Love one another”. Obviously that is the theme. Jesus gave His life for friends and non-friends alike. Not something many of us know much about. His was a sacrificial love few of us understand. In other words, modern-day LOVE takes on an ephemeral quality, something written about in songs for young lovers, romantic melodies to slow-dance to, not one tied to reality.
So what is ‘for the love of God’? Google says, ‘sacrificial love is self-sacrifice with the pure motivation to alleviate the suffering of others. This supreme love is suffering love, love that requires involvement in the knotty problems of the world, love that bears with the failings and weaknesses of others, love that is committed to helping others regardless of the cost’.
Most of us aren’t asked to go to these extremes on a daily basis or even on a regular basis, but we need to be cognizant of the fact that we could be asked at any moment to be there for someone at just the right time. And to be there just “for the love of God.”
In the meantime, we shouldn’t be bothered because we have no grandiose ways to please the Lord, but instead love Him simply and consistently by being obedient to what He asks and desires the most from us.
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