The mystery of love
I offer two observations on love from a sort of mystical perspective. I am not a mystic, but find great value in those transcendental experiences which illuminate the life of faith on occaision.
The first experience that forms my practical paradigm of love was several years ago, on a college trip home for the weekend. Mother had gone to Wal-mart and bought a small birthday-style cake at the bakery. There was no occaision, and that small gesture transformed an ordinary weekend into a celebration. Later that night, in tears, I understood something I had not before. Love needs no occaision but itself. The gratuitousness of love is the greater part of its nature. On a deeper level, God's love for us, and His grace mediated to us, originates in HIS own Divine nature. God does not love us because He created us, nothing in us demands that He care for His creation. God who is love, in the act of making that which was not Himself, began the process of drawing us into participation in the Divine-communion that is the trinitarian existence. All that from a cake.
The second event that transformed my understanding was a weekend trip to Daddy's. My own father died before I was a year old, Daddy is the father of a friend from college who claims me as his. Being an insomniac, I often sleep downstairs to keep from disturbing the household in my midnight ramblings. One cold night, Daddy came in and covered me with a blanket. The gesture was touching, but reflection brought a deeper understanding of his kindness. In that act, he wasn't being nice to a guest, but was treating me, caring for me as one of his children. That moment, Daddy shared with me a part of himself. In that self donation, he became a daddy and I became a son. That is the second truth of love, self giving. The covenant with God is the same way, its purpose is to make children out of strangers. In God's self-giving grace, we are adopted as heirs.
The first experience that forms my practical paradigm of love was several years ago, on a college trip home for the weekend. Mother had gone to Wal-mart and bought a small birthday-style cake at the bakery. There was no occaision, and that small gesture transformed an ordinary weekend into a celebration. Later that night, in tears, I understood something I had not before. Love needs no occaision but itself. The gratuitousness of love is the greater part of its nature. On a deeper level, God's love for us, and His grace mediated to us, originates in HIS own Divine nature. God does not love us because He created us, nothing in us demands that He care for His creation. God who is love, in the act of making that which was not Himself, began the process of drawing us into participation in the Divine-communion that is the trinitarian existence. All that from a cake.
The second event that transformed my understanding was a weekend trip to Daddy's. My own father died before I was a year old, Daddy is the father of a friend from college who claims me as his. Being an insomniac, I often sleep downstairs to keep from disturbing the household in my midnight ramblings. One cold night, Daddy came in and covered me with a blanket. The gesture was touching, but reflection brought a deeper understanding of his kindness. In that act, he wasn't being nice to a guest, but was treating me, caring for me as one of his children. That moment, Daddy shared with me a part of himself. In that self donation, he became a daddy and I became a son. That is the second truth of love, self giving. The covenant with God is the same way, its purpose is to make children out of strangers. In God's self-giving grace, we are adopted as heirs.
posted by Brother Makarias | 5:33 PM
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