The Question of Love

"A scholar of the law tested Jesus by asking Him, ' Teacher, which commandment in the law is greatest? ' He said to him, ' You shall love the Lord, your God, with all your heart, with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the greatest and the first commandment. The second is like it: You will love your neighbor as yourself. The whole law and the prophets depend on these two commandments.' " --[ Matthew 22: 34-40].


This command to love others is central to being a Christian, because God IS Love. For, as John 4:20 says, "If anyone says, 'I love God', and hates his brother, he is a liar. For if a person does not love his brother, whom he has seen, then he cannot love God, whom he has not."

Many may ask, 'Well -- how much shall I love?" What quantity of Love will count in God's eyes? This is not a theoretical question, such as the apocryphal question debated in the Middle Ages: "How many angels can fit on the head of a needle?"

The question of Love is one of those questions that is real--- and we hate to ask it, because we will probably not like the answer! Consider what Jack Jezreel, M.Div., founder of JustFaith Ministries says about Love: "If you love conditionally, then you do not love."

All of this Scripture about Love has been very much on my mind as the 2014-2015 Vatican Synod  has debated family matters, as they relate to Scripture and the Church.

Pope Francis has been quoted as saying, "Homosexuals have gifts and qualities to offer the Christian community: are we capable of welcoming these people, guaranteeing to them a further space in our communities?" [Author John Thavis has called the initial 20014-2015 Synod document,  "an earthquake" in the Church.]

It seems to me that this debate about the role in the church, for the gay community, for single parents, for divorced and remarried Catholics,  goes straight to the heart of the question : How much do we love?

And yet, by the very question, "How much do we love?', we implicitly regard Love as conditional! We are trying to measure out and conserve our Love, rather than giving away our Love extravagantly, the way God does.

As Pope Francis and the Vatican debate this question of Love, which still today, remains central to the mission of the Church, I have this image that I cannot get out of my mind:

A long line of Jesus' Followers surround the Vatican, holding hands. After the line stretches all around the Vatican, the line continues through St. Peter's Square and down the block.

Holding hands outside the Synod are:

The Man with the Unclean Spirit: Mark 1: 21; Luke 4: 31-37;
The Many Healed at Simon's House, including his mother-in-law: Mark 1: 29-34; Mt. 8:5-13;
The Leper Healed By Jesus: Mark 1: 40-45; Matthew 8: 1-4; Luke 5: 12-16;
The Paralytic Healed by Jesus: Mark 2: 1-12; Matthew 9: 2-8; Luke 5:17-26;
Levi the Tax Collector, who leaves the tax booth to follow Jesus: Mark 2:13-17;
The Man with the Withered Hand: Mark: 3:1-6; Matthew 12: 9-14; Luke 6:6-11;
The Multitude at the Seaside: Mark 3:7-12; Matthew 15: 29-31; Luke 6:17-19;
The Gerasene Demoniac; Mark 5: 1-20; Matthew 8: 28-33; Luke 8:26-39;
The Girl Restored to Life: Mark 5: 21-24; Matthew 9: 18-26; Luke 8:40-56;
The Woman Healed From Hemorrhages: Mark 5: 24b-34;
The Sick from Gennesaret: Mark 6:53-56; Matthew 14: 34-36;
The Syrophoenician's Daughter: Mark 7: 24-30;
The Deaf Man whom Jesus cures: Mark 7:31-37;
The Blind Man at Bethsaida: Mark 8: 22-26;
The Boy with an Unspeakable Spirit: Mark 9: 14; Matthew 9: 32-34; Luke 9: 37-43;
The Disciples who Argue Who is Greatest: Mark 9:33-37;Matthew 18: 1-4;
The Little Children who Disrupt Jesus: Mark 10:13; Matthew 19: 13-15; Luke 18:15-17;
The Healing of Bartimaeus: Mark 10: 46-52;
The Centurion's Servant Healed: Matthew 8:5-13; Luke 7: 1-10;
The Two Blind Men Healed: Matthew 9: 27-31; Matthew 20: 29-34;
The Canaanite Woman: Matthew 15: 21-28;
The Lost Sheep: Matthew 18: 10-14; Luke 15: 1-7;
The Widow's Son Raised by Jesus: Luke 7:11-17;
The Sinful Woman with the Alabaster Jar: Luke 7:36-49;
The Crippled Woman Healed by Jesus: Luke 13: 10-17;
The Man With Dropsy Healed By Jesus: 14: 1-6;
A Blind Beggar: Luke 18: 35-43;
Zacchaeus: Luke 19: 1-10;
The Poor Widow: Luke 21: 1-4;
Peter, Who Denies Jesus Three Times: Luke 22: 54-62;
The Women Who Are Not Considered Disciples: Luke 8: 1-3.

And a long line of sinners, a multitude too many to enumerate, clasping hands and stretching into the distance. (Do you dare to place yourself, a sinner, in that long line of petitioners, desperately hoping to find a place at the banquet of the Church?)

All of these petitioners are waiting, silently, desperately, for the chance to enter the doors of the Church.

They sing the hymn, "All Are Welcome", with a solemn look, all the while hedging their bets whether today's Church will open her doors to them.

The scribes and the Pharisees complained, "Jesus eats with sinners and tax collectors [the despised]." [Mark 2; 16]. Is that how, today, WE regard the petitioners around the Vatican?

How much do YOU Love?

Or do you respond, "That depends?"

[Related Postings: "Love Thy Neighbor", October 23, 2011; "The ABC's of Love", April 27, 2013.]

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