Love, despite of-

Once again we are all reminded that love is the soul of our Christian life. Not liturgy, not cultic worship. Love is at the core, and is the soul of our Christian life.

You may be deprived of liturgy, you may be deprived of cultic worship, and yet, you can still be a Christian-if you are able to L-O-V-E.

Love is the soul, the core of our Christian life. It is very easy to love people from a distance. It is easier if people we love are miles and miles away. It is easier for us to love them if loving involves simply offering Masses for them and including them in our private prayers and in the prayers of the faithful of the Holy Mass.

But if the person you are asked to love is your own bedmate whom you have been sleeping with for the last 10 years or 15 years or 20 years or 50 years who makes you wake up in the middle of the night from the loud sound of his/her snore, it is a different story.

If the person you are asked to love is your own room mate who messes up with your things on your study table, then it is a different story.

If the person you are asked to love is your own house mate who turns on the TV set or stereo to its maximum volume while you are taking your after-lunch nap (siesta), then it is a different story.

When you are asked to love your own seatmate in school who makes your classroom life miserable and stressful all year long, then it is gonna be a different story.

When God asks you to love the person who obstructs your promotion in the office, then it is a different story.

When God asks you to be gentle with your seemingly unruly children, then it is a different story.

When God asks you to love a person who gossips you (tsismosa/tsismoso) and spreads false rumors against you(intrigera/intrigero), then it is really a different story.

It is easier to love people when they are from a distance. But when they sleep with you, eat with you, rub elbows with you, make life miserable for you, it is a different story. However, loving them is very much possible because all things are possible with GOD. We should aways remember that.

Let us ask ourselves, “ Do we have the souls in our Christian life?” “Do we have enough love to give life to our Christian life? If not, then all liturgy, all popular religiosity and all cultic worships will be in vain.

Today, let us take the lead to love. Let us take the challenge to love no matter what it takes, no matter how difficult it is.
Let us release ourselves from the bondage of a cold heart. Let us keep the fire of love burning in our hearts, not just for those who are easy to love, not just for those who are convenient to love, not just for those who are miles apart from us, but most especially for those who are nearest to us whom we find so difficult and hard to love.
If we can do that- then God’s rewards will all be ours!

Bless us all….