Sept. 17, 2014 Wednesday: St. Robert Bellarmine
The Greatest is Love
Love, love, love!!! We have heard this reading at many a wedding as two young people start their life together. It can simply be a lot of “warm fuzzies” or it can really mean something. So let’s take a shot at the latter.
St. Ignatius is very clear in the fourth week of the Spiritual Exercises that love is not just “warm fuzzies.” First, he says love ought to show itself more in deeds than simply in words. Secondly, he says love consists in a mutual sharing of goods. In other words, love is very concrete.
The economics of love are unlike the economics of anything else we know. The more we give love away to others, the more love returns to us. Love is not a scarce commodity allocated by the laws of supply and demand. It is unlimited and we have the power to create as much love as we are willing.
Lastly, love is a force whose power we should never underestimate. In each of our lives, I am sure we have experienced how it can pick us up when we are down, how it can bring people together in the deepest of relationships, and heal the most serious wounds. Remember, there is no such thing as a small act of love!
—David McNulty, www.jesuitprayer.org
Love, love, love!!! We have heard this reading at many a wedding as two young people start their life together. It can simply be a lot of “warm fuzzies” or it can really mean something. So let’s take a shot at the latter.
St. Ignatius is very clear in the fourth week of the Spiritual Exercises that love is not just “warm fuzzies.” First, he says love ought to show itself more in deeds than simply in words. Secondly, he says love consists in a mutual sharing of goods. In other words, love is very concrete.
The economics of love are unlike the economics of anything else we know. The more we give love away to others, the more love returns to us. Love is not a scarce commodity allocated by the laws of supply and demand. It is unlimited and we have the power to create as much love as we are willing.
Lastly, love is a force whose power we should never underestimate. In each of our lives, I am sure we have experienced how it can pick us up when we are down, how it can bring people together in the deepest of relationships, and heal the most serious wounds. Remember, there is no such thing as a small act of love!
—David McNulty, www.jesuitprayer.org
