"What About Love? Don't you want someone to care about you?"

No, we are not playing "name that tune" today.  This blog is about something that we all desire and long for, that is love.  We were created out love by Love to be loved and ultimately to love.  I have had people ask me about why I would not want to fall in love and then get married to a man?  "What about love?"  they say.  You see a person does not enter religious life because they could not find a husband or because they are incapable of love.  Actually quite the opposite.  As a Sister, I would be married to Love itself.  To the source of love.  God is love. "Deus caritas est!"   The vocation to religious life is all about love.  Without it we could not faithfully fulfill our vocation. 

So what is love?  "Love is the free self-giving of the heart" By living chastely, poorly, and obediently we allow ourselves to be empty of all material possessions and desires so that God can fill us with His love and with that overflowing of love we can love others that we come in contact with.  We can give our entire selves to love of God and of His people.  What an amazing gift that is?

Religious are called to an intimate love relationship with Christ.  They are not devoid of love but quite the opposite.  I remember both times that I was with the Franciscans their love overflowed into everything that they do.  If it was cooking a meal, visiting with another Sister, talking communion to one of the residents in the nursing home or simply walking around the convent and the grounds you saw the love of God in them and their actions.  One of the first things I remember clearly about Panhandle that a huge affect on me was the love that I saw in Sr. Mary Ana's and Sr. Mary Michael's eyes for all their Sisters.  It was such a beautiful sight!  It has stayed with me since my first visit. I had never seen that before not even in families.  You can visibly see the grace that God has given them to allow them to love like Christ loves.  You see Christ in each one of the Sisters because of their ability to love. 

“We can do no great things; only small things with great love.” Bl. Mother Teresa

"What really maters in life is that we are loved by Christ and that we love Him in return. In comparison to the love of Jesus, everything else is secondary. And, without the love of Jesus, everything is useless."  John Paul II (soon to be Bl. John Paul II)

Oh just in case you are wondering the song is called "What about Love" by Heart released in 1985.