MARY. LOVE EXEMPLIFIED.

        

            Man, by nature, desires to share and to live together with others. Even God affirmed this in the book of Genesis, when He said that it is not good for a man to be alone. Aristotle adds that man is a political being, whose nature it is to live with others and also, that no one would choose the whole world on the condition of being alone. All this owes to the fact that inherent in us is the desire to love and to be loved, the desire to share intimately with others and to be shared with. In other words we desire to live in communion. It is, also, the case that the virtue which most effectively, makes this our tendency to communion most enjoyable and livable is Love. Love, the most used four-letters word. This word means different things to different people. To some, it is taking advantage of others for our own usefulness, however unconscious this maybe. To others it is to be treated the way we want. To some still, it is all about a pleasure-seeking venture but to those who truly understand, it entails sacrificing our comfort and pleasures, in other to do all for the good of the other. Little wonder He who totally gave himself  for us commanded us to love others as he loved us.

            It is, at the same time, almost the case that this total self-giving is sometimes lacking even among Christians, not because of our unwillingness to obey but because of our tendency to selfishness and self-centeredness. Jesus surely is the perfect model for us, since “greater love no man has than to lay down his life for his brethren”. However, the divine nature in His person, sometimes makes him to lofty for us to imitate. Here, we see another model, the blessed Virgin. In her we see the total self-giving for the good of others exemplified. The love that pushes her to run to assist her fellow pregnant woman without thinking about herself, or to beg for the good of those who invited her to eat and drink without been asked or the love that led her to the foot of the cross without fearing the soldiers. This love too, should push us to love our neighbors without counting the cost.

            It is truly the case, that some persons are of the opinion that Christians are hypocrites because the lofty ideas they proclaim as their doctrine are never practiced. If this claim is by anyway to be considered at all, it is because we have not yet learned to love without counting the cost. We have not learned to go out of our comfort to ask after the sick brother even if we are busy, to pat the moody brother at the back even when he seems annoying, or to even smile at a saddened brother even if we are sad ourselves. It is just because we have not learned to ask the Holy spirit, the bond of unity in the Most Holy Trinity, to instruct us on how to love without thinking about ourselves. Let us today submit to the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of Love and ask him to teach us to love selflessly as he taught our Lady, the Spouse of the Holy Spirit.

Mary, Spouse of the Holy Spirit, pray for us.