The Greatest Valentine of All:
Br. Joseph Michael Fino, CFR, Most
Blessed Sacrament Friary, Newark, NJ
Love is a word that is
bigger than mere romance. And yet there
is something in romantic love that more keenly captures the heart. Paternal or maternal love, filial or
fraternal, even spousal love—which cannot always be romantic—are more enduring
kinds of love. They are loves that walk
us through life, foundational and structural loves, highly important in
practice and reception.
We know that God loves
us paternally, like a father. Jesus is our friend and brother, and so we
experience his steadfast support and presence. Even the Holy Spirit loves us,
encouraging and inspiring us over the long haul.
But do you ever
encounter God’s romantic love? If not, I
have to say, it’s important that you do. Romantic love is quicker, more sudden, shorter
lasting but more impacting. It is the
love that pierces the heart and captures the imagination. This encounter is behind all those
overbearing converts that won’t stop talking about Jesus and the Church and the
Eucharist, and they won’t stop because they simply cannot, because they’ve
fallen in love, and when we do that, we want everyone to fall with us!...
The
scriptures give us no shortage of evidence that God will pursue us, that he
will court us, and the word seduce us is even used. Christmas is the story of a
lover decidedly throwing himself into the life his beloved. God puts himself in
a position of radical closeness to the one he loves and begins to woo, to
seduce by his presence, by his words and his life. He now touches us, speaks closely to us and
desires to take us unto himself so that we may live together forever.
He is anxious to love
you romantically, to surprise you and win you; you have only to let him do it. If you have not yet experienced this side of
him, I would say, ask for it, expect it, and don’t be afraid when it actually
happens. For then you will learn two
very important truths: Jesus is real and alive, and he loves you personally,
whoever and wherever you are, and he loves you a lot. And if you allow it, this will change your
life.
Pax et bonum
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