This post is republished from Fr. Ron Ramson, C.M.’s, regular column in the Perryville Republic Monitor.
Remember the old popular song by Tina Turner, “What’s Love Got to Do With It?” Well, let me tell you my friend, love has everything to do with it!
Jesus tells us: Love God; love your neighbor; love yourself.
What does St. Paul tell us in 1st Corinthians 13? He spells it out in detail, doesn’t he?
- Love is patient
- Love is kind
- Love is not jealous
- It is not pompous
- It is not inflated
- It is not rude
- Love does not seek its own interest
- It is not quick tempered
- It does not brood over injury
Love rejoices with the truth. It bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never fails.
St. Paul then reminds us: “When we were children, we reasoned as a child. (What about now?) When we became adults, we put aside childish things. (Have we?)
“At present, we see indistinctively as in a mirror, but then face to face. At present, we know partially, but we shall know fully as we are fully known.” (I can’t wait!)
St. Paul wraps up his teaching: “Faith, hope, and charity (love) and the greatest of these is love.”
“Love makes us want to do great things for each other. Love says no sacrifice, no suffering is too much.” (Msgr. Jim Vlaun)
There is a song that I like a lot. It is from Andrew Lloyd Weber’s musical, Aspects of Love. The song I’m referring to is “Love Changes Everything.” It was written by Andrew Lloyd Weber, Don Black, and Charles Hart. One verse says, “Love, love changes everything: how you live and how you die.”
Isn’t this true? Isn’t this what Jesus is telling us when he says, “Love God, love your neighbor, and love yourself?” Doesn’t loving God, loving your neighbor, and loving yourself change how you live and how you die?
What if we live unlovingly? That surely changes everything 24/7. When we make ourselves unlovable (yes, it takes effort!), it changes how we live and how we die.
God defines himself as steadfast love 175 times in sacred scripture. God is love—love that never gives up. Love is a free choice and commitment is a moment of free choice that lasts—and lasts—and lasts.
St. Vincent De Paul, the founder of my religious community, saw love of Christ and love of the poor as inseparable. He urged the members of the community not just to act but also to pray, and not just to pray but also to act. By seeking God in all that we do, every task, no matter how big or how small, no matter how routine or how exceptional, is sanctified (made holy).
“God is love, and whoever abides in love, abides in God, and God abides in him.” (1 John 4:16)
Fr. Ron Ramson, C.M., is Vincentian priest, ordained in 1959, and the author of numerous books, including Put Your Hands Into Hers: Mary, Our Life Our Sweetness, and Our Hope. He lives at the Vincentian residence at St. Mary’s of the Barrens in Perryville, Mo., and write a regular column for the Perryville Republic Monitor.