Words of Silence (Reflection)

Out of Love, To Love, and For Love

by: Sem. Mark Jayson Pascua

As every human being persistently grows in this passing world, different meanings, expressions, interpretations, and connotations of love have been slowly inculcated in every human mind. Christians say, "loving means keeping God’s commandments and loving our enemies." Scriptures says that among the three theological virtues: faith, hope, and love, the latter is the greatest. Still others have peculiar understanding about love. It is really a vast word that contains depth of meaning that such a word is described in many ways and compared with many things. Do these meanings capture the whole reality, concept, or idea of love? Why do we find contradictory meanings of love?

Perhaps, we have never heard a person say, "Please don’t love me." It is our nature to love and to be loved. Love without us is futile. Knowing entails loving; loving entails service; and, service entails sacrifice. It is a process or chain in which every one of us undergoes because it reveals the essence and, more so, a realization of our earthly existence. The chain always begins with the mind by acquiring knowledge and follows through the heart, through a commitment with the mind. The hand and feet now start to act with what is in the mind and heart through service. Later on the chain grows deeper in the level of sacrifice even to the extent of giving oneself.

As what Manuel Dy, Jr. had written in one of his books, "Love is the maximum of justice and justice is the minimum of love." In my reflection, the expression holds water. Certainly, the expression above is very evident in our day-to-day experience especially inside the seminary where we frequently find maximum tolerance. Our formators give us sanctions that are due to our committed violations to the seminary rules and regulations; but, they are being "just" in giving us such for they want us to learn from our mistakes and become better persons. They do this because they "love" us. Justice is defined as giving what is due or an equality of everything. Love presupposes justice as Mother Teresa puts it in these words, "If you judge people, you will have no time to love them."

Fooling oneself, others, and God has never been in the context of love. It defeats the real purpose of loving. "The end does not justify the means." Love may pass through a lot of struggles, trials, difficulties, and anxieties but these give the real value of a true and sincere love. They build and form the kind of love that can stand amidst the test of time. "Love without criticisms brings stagnation and criticism without love brings destruction"

If we are to examine the life of seminarians, more so of priests, they are but fools for Christ. They serve, honor, and obey truthfully a Being whom they do not perceive. They sacrifice many things and faithfully follow God’s commandments as a testimony to their faith and service in their ministry. Faith is such a great factor in determining how much we love God since it is a personal relationship with the Father in Heaven.

As we equate the reality of love, we realize that out of love, to love, and for love are the same as from God, to God, and for God. We came from Him; for that, we share in the essence of our Creator, which is Love. This implies our birth from Love and for Love. It is our nature to love as God loves us. We can never deny this nature; all we can do is to act according to our nature. Love therefore is innately implanted by God in the very heart of our being, making us bearers of God and of His love.

Every action we perform is for God. Scripture says "Whatever you bound on earth shall be bound in heaven and whatever you loose on earth shall be loose in heaven." As we move on our perilous journey, may the inspiration of the Holy Spirit always foreshadow in us so that we may be always reminded of our origin, sense of existence, and goal and hopefully pass this journey safe and sound towards eternal life. Let this be our prayer:

Holy Mary, Mother of God, you have given the world
Its true light, Jesus, your Son-the Son of God
You abandoned yourself completely to God’s Call
And thus became a well-spring of the goodness
Which flows forth from Him.
Show us Jesus. Lead us to Him. Teach s to know
And love Him so that we too can become capable
Of true love and be the fountains of living water
In the midst of a thirsting world. Amen.

DEUS CARITAS EST!