Love Part II

Over the weekend, I attended a day-long conference called 'Freedom to Love," featuring renowned Speaker Christopher West. The conference was about John Paul II's teachings on the Theology of the Body, which, in an EXTREMELY small nutshell, details how God created the bodies of Man and Woman to make "visible what is invisible: the spiritual and the divine. [They] have been created to transfer into the visible reality of the world the mystery hidden from eternity in God, and thus to be a sign of it" (TOB 19:4). The mystery spoken of is God's Love, and how that love applies to our human love and to our ultimate destiny of happiness with God in heaven.

God, through St. Paul, calls men to love their wives "...just as Christ loved the Church and gave Himself up for her" (Ephesians 5:25). Wives, likewise, are to fully receive the love from their husbands, and love them back, so that they may be "...holy and without blemish" (Ephesians 5:27). All of us (not just men), just like Christ, are called to love freely, fully, fruitfully and faithfully (see my blog about that below this one).

When husband and wife give themselves to each other completely in the marital union, they are witnessing to this beautiful, holy mystery of God's love. At one point during the conference, Christopher West quoted Archbishop Fulton Sheen when he asked, "Do you know what is happening at the foot of the Cross? Nuptials, I tell you! Nuptials!" Jesus Christ, the Word made flesh, gave himself to us completely on the Cross. And at every mass, the power of that sacrifice becomes very tangible to us through the Eucharistic Feast of His body and blood.

It is very hard to get past the accidents of bread and wine, and see the substance of what is given at mass. But it is Christ loving us a very, very, real way. At times it can be very hard to see it as anything but ordinary. If you ever have trouble kneeling in awe of the Eucharist, just think...

If you have ever wanted to see someone truly happy...

If you have ever wanted to be there for someone, giving yourself to them...

In other words, If you have ever loved or have been in love...

Take that level of feeling, that level of willingness to give yourself, that level of longing to be with that person, multiply it by a billion, and you will have a fraction of what Christ is feeling, and of what he wants to give at every mass. The next time you see a priest raise The Blessed Sacrament, think of the limited capacity of human love, and raise it to infinity. That is the Eucharist. I dare you not to be amazed at how much God loves us.

"This is my body, which is given up for you."