Deacon
Tom Writes,
“No Other Love Have I”
You may have noticed the Ads
on TV that promise to help you find your perfect partner… that love of your life,
as the saying goes. According to them you simply go on-line, list some of your
good qualities…that you are kind and helpful, thoughtful, etc. Honesty isn’t really
necessary! Then you describe the qualities of that ideal person you’re trying
to meet… one who is caring, generous, good-hearted, and so on. You get the
idea. If you’re lucky, in a cyber second, you’re connected to the love of your
life. Good luck! I do hope it works out.
But there is a better way. Would
you believe that today’s readings could really put us in touch with the love of
our lives? They reveal some essential qualities that will draw us into a deep
and life changing relationship that will bond us to an intimate friend and
lover, a trusted companion, who will be the source of our strength, who will be
the one we turn to when life becomes uncertain and burdensome, and with whom we
will want to share all our happy moments and life’s joys.
Who is this amazing one who can possibly satisfy all of our heart’s
desires?
As these readings reveal, it
is God who competes for our love, who reveals his great love for us all by
revealing his love for these two widows today.
They represent all the poor,
lowly outcast, marginalized members of society for whom God’s love is intense. God
is good to them, provides for
them, and rescues them from their despair. And he desires to do the same for
us.
And, in addition to being
good, we learn that God is eager to help.
He doesn’t hesitate to reverse the misfortunes these widows suffer.
In the First Reading we are
told that God listens…“the Lord
hears the prayer of Elijah”, then quickly restores the life of the widow’s
only son.
Then, in the gospel, God
reveals many of his other qualities. In this brief encounter between Jesus and
the Widow of Nain, we see Jesus as a person with deep emotion…quick to show
empathy for the woman and her situation as she mourns the death of her son. We also
sense Jesus being fully aware that beyond the loss of her son, the widow is now
also powerless, voiceless, hopeless, reduced to the status of a beggar, and completely
dispossessed. We hear Jesus console and comfort her, “Do not weep”, he says.
Reading
this passage you can’t help but sense that Jesus is more aware of the depth of
her sorrow than anyone else who is present, even though he is a stranger. We
know that Jesus experiences a deep sense of compassion for her loss. He
experiences her pain in a real, physical sense… that’s the meaning behind the Greek
word used to describe, “how he was moved
with pity”. We see that Jesus is moved to step beyond religious taboos of
being made unclean as he reaches out and touches the coffin to stop the
procession so that he can restore the young man back to life and avert the
poverty and suffering the future had in store for his mother.
The God who seeks to satisfy our heart’s longing …. is a God of deep
compassion, intense sorrow, empathy, sympathy, sensitivity, and is concerned for the well being of others;
a God who rejoices because, in the words of the psalmist, this widow’s “mourning (has been changed) into dancing”.
Jesus is giving us an
example, a mental picture of what it is like to be “fully human”…“fully alive”
in Christ and invites us to imitate him in being an instrument of God’s love,
and mercy bringing compassion to those who need tenderness and showing empathy to
all who are suffering in mind or body or spirit.
These reading today
challenge us to reflect on this truth: that God seeks to fill the emptiness
within us, within our hearts. He truly does compete for our love. He is a God of
compassion, a sensitive and caring God close to the broken-hearted, near to all
who call upon him.
Jesus is God in human flesh living
life to the fullest by loving God and caring for others. He invites you and me to
choose him as the love of our life so that we too may live life to the fullest.
Enjoy the day!
Deacon Tom
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