The people of Wales have this greeting: “Hail, guest, we ask not what thou art; if friend, we greet thee hand and heart; if stranger, such no longer be; if enemy, our love shall conquer thee.”
In experimenting with plants and animals, it has been proven that if they are only exposed to mellow, soothing music and kind words, they will grow and produce bountifully. But if the same plants and animals are subjected to hard, acid-rock music and harsh words, they will no longer grow and produce.
And speaking of hard, acid-rock music, a friend of mine complained that he never knew how bad some of today’s music is until he went to this nightclub. He said a waiter dropped a tray of dishes, and ten people got up to dance.
We give off vibes. If we radiate love, joy and peace, others are comfortable in our presence. For example, Blessed Mother Teresa’s entering a noisy gathering of people would have a quieting effect, even among those not immediately aware of her presence.
Many years ago “60 Minutes” featured a black woman from Harlem whose ministry was to accept abandoned babies who were dying from lack of love. Through her own openness to God’s transforming love, she loved them to good health.
A lady who worked in a home for wayward children said she would always greet a certain boy who would never reply. “But one day,” she said, “as we passed on the stairway, I lightly touched him on the shoulder, and from that day he began to respond.”
After these considerations, I am prompted to give you this free advice: Never go to a doctor whose office plants have died.
Any time a person is patient with you, is kind to you is forgiving of you, you are being loved and are becoming more of the person God is calling you to be. I am reminded that when I was four or five years old barreling head down on my tricycle, suddenly I ran into something which happened to be another person, a grown man! As I fearfully stammered an apology, he very kindly looked at me and said, “Hey, little fella, that’s all right; nobody’s hurt.” To this day when I am mindful of his response, I continue to become more of who God is calling me to be. As Dr. Bernie S. Siegel states in his runaway best seller, Love, Medicine and Miracles, “The truth is love heals.”
Think of a time when you realized you were loved by another human being and of the transforming effect it had and is having upon you.
In my prison ministry sometimes it may be difficult or impossible for those confined to recall ever having been loved. But I remind them that if we have a personal relationship with the God of love and in faith are open to his unconditional transforming love, we can become fulfilled without the love of another person. As the Holy Spirit reminds us through the evangelist John, we are able to love God, ourself and our neighbor because God has first loved us” (cf. 1 Jn 4:19).
In about 1970 I wrote the following: “Saints are rightfully classified as the greatest of lovers. And because of their extraordinary ability to love, they have the best chance of converting the most hardened individual, the person who feels he or she is no longer worthy of love; but is able to discern the sincere and ardent love of the saint for him or her. In the presence of the saint, the confirmed sinner is more likely to say, ‘Hey, this person is for real; why shouldn’t I be? ‘”
Accordingly, St. Francis Xavier in the 16th century said, “Give me ten people filled with the love of God, and this world will be converted.” And so the Church has always grown the fastest during the martyrdoms. As Christians increasingly gave the radical witness of offering their lives in testimony of their belief in Jesus, even some of the executioners were converted and experienced martyrdom. As Jesus says, “If I be lifted up from the earth, I will draw everyone to myself” (Jn 12:32).
Marilyn Thomsen said, “While it takes courage to achieve greatness, it takes more courage to find fulfillment in the ordinary. And the late Bishop Sheen referred to being steadfast in living the ordinary–persevering in carrying the daily cross made up of the usual temptations and trials–as the dry martyrdom; which, he said, could be a more heroic testimony to one’s faith in Jesus than are some of the swifter, more radical forms of martyrdom.
And as conveyed by Leo Buscaglia, “The majority of us lead quiet, unheralded lives as we pass through this world. There will most likely be no tickertape parades for us, no monuments created in our honor. But that does not lessen our possible impact, for there are scores of people waiting for someone just like us to come along; people who will appreciate our compassion, our encouragement; someone who will live a happier life merely because we took the time to share what we have to give.
“Too often we underestimate the power of a touch, a smile, a kind word, a listening ear, an honest compliment, or the smallest act of caring, all of which has the potential to turn a life around. It’s overwhelming to consider the continuous opportunities to make our love felt.”
Therefore, we should be asking how we can best love God, self and neighbor in the daily circumstances in which we find ourselves; how we can be instrumental in transforming the lives of others by exercising our baptismal priesthood in fulfilling our commission to become lovers–how we can brighten the corner right where we are.
The couple who were thinking about getting a divorce agreed to go to a marriage counselor. The wife complained that her husband would not love her unless he came home to a house in perfect order.
He responded, “Yeah, I think that is the least I can expect after working hard all day.”
She exclaimed, “But I have to know I am loved to have the motivation to get the house in order!”
The marriage counselor responded, “Lady, you have spoken the truth.”
And the same is true for you and me. We have to know and accept that we are unconditionally loved to get our houses–our lives–in order, that we may become the fulfilled lovers we are called to be.
Blessed Mother Teresa says, “Each of us has a mission to fulfill, a mission of love. At the hour of death, when we come face to face with God, we are going to be judged on love; not how much we have done, but how much love we have put into our actions. The greatest suffering is being lonely, being unwanted, being unloved; just having no one.”
Lord, grant that we may be fully open to your transforming love, that we may effectively continue your mission of enabling especially those most in need to recognize and accept that they are made to your very image and likeness, are incalculably precious and are unconditionally loved, “as if there is but one to love.”
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