What is love?

John 15:9-17 (Sixth Sunday of Easter, year b, Mother’s Day)

Would you be able to explain to an alien what love is? How would you describe the concept of love to an extraterrestrial, a creature who has never encountered human culture? I recently discussed this question with students from our elementary school. Maybe you think that it is a strange question to ask, but it is one we Catholics should be able to answer. We believe in a God who is love. Jesus commanded us all to love one another as He has loved us. Love is the core of our faith and yet, though we use the word often, I suspect that many of us would struggle to explain the concept. If they were to ever meet an alien, here is how some students would explain what love is:

Love is a kind of feeling. When you’re with others it brings you together. 

When you are loved you feel happy. 

Love can be a sacrifice. 

Love is when you enjoying being with someone. 

When you love, you dedicate yourself to another person. 

Love is passionate.

I was impressed by the answers the students gave. I suspect our responses would be similar. Like the students, our answers would tend to focus on the emotional aspect of love. Like them, however, we would recognize that true love is more than a feeling. Love is a difficult concept to grasp. Fortunately for us, God did not simply command us to love. He taught us by example what love truly is.

God reveals to us that love has to do with actions rather than emotions. Love is not a feeling! Having good feelings about a person can certainly help us to love them. We can - and are indeed called to - love others whether or not we feel happy to be around them or not.  One student expressed it this way:

I don’t really like my brother but if he needed help I would help him and if something happened to him I would be sad.

Love is not a feeling, it is an action. As St. Thomas Aquinas said, “to love is to will the good of another”. In other words, we love someone when we do things that are for their good. In the Old Testament, the Hebrew word for love is hesed. In the Bible, God’s love for His people is demonstrated by His good, saving acts. He choose them to be a people. He led them from slavery into the promised land. He gave the law. He sent the prophets. He was always faithful to His covenant. God teaches us that love is not a feeling. Love is choosing to take actions that are for the good of another person.

Further, God has revealed that love has to do with actions that are sacrificial. The life of Jesus is the ultimate lesson of love. Jesus demonstrated that true love requires us to sacrifice ourselves for others, to put their needs in front of our own. Jesus sacrificed Himself for us in many different ways. He was a humble servant who cured the sick, spent time with outcasts and washed the feet of His followers. His death on the Cross for our salvation is the ultimate expression of sacrificial love. No one has greater love than to lay down their life for their friends. As Mother Teresa said, “Love to be real, it must cost—it must hurt—it must empty us of self.”

In my discussion with the students, I asked them a follow-up question: “who is someone in your life that shows you true love?” Unsurprisingly, the most common answer was “my mom”. That is my answer as well! One student described the sacrificial love of his mother in the following way,

I know my mom loves me because even when I am annoying, she still gives me good food.

For most of us, our mothers have been indispensable teachers in the school of love, teaching us through the witness of their lives. A mother will repeatedly get up during the night to care for her crying baby. She puts the needs of her child before her own need for sleep. In so many ways mothers lay down their lives for their children - even when they are being annoying!

A particular example of maternal, sacrificial love is found in the life of St. Gianna Beretta Molla. Gianna was born in 1922 in Magenta Italy. Growing up, she loved music, fashion, tennis and skiing. As a young woman, she lived her faith generously. She served in Catholic Action, an organization for youth, and visited the elderly as a member of St. Vincent de Paul Society. Later, she studied medicine, eventually becoming a pediatrician. Soon after, she married Pietro and they had three children. When Gianna was pregnant with her fourth child, tragedy struck.  Doctors diagnosed a serious fibroma in her uterus that required surgery. The surgeon recommended that she undergo an abortion in order to save her own life. She refused. A few days before the child was due she said “if you must decide between me and the child, do not hesitate. Choose the child. I insist on it. Save the baby.” Immediately after the birth of her child her health deteriorated and she died a few days later at the age of 39. After her death, her family and friends explained that her decision to save the life of her child was the natural culmination of how she had lived her entire life. Love guided all her actions and, as she once wrote, “One cannot love without suffering or suffer without love”.

Today on Mother’s Day, let us thank our mothers and show appreciation to them in a special way. Let us recognize that perhaps the best way we can honor them is by imitating the sacrificial love they have shown us. In this way, we can all better follow Jesus’ commandment to love others by laying down our lives for them.

How to become a fruitful branch on Christ the vine

John 15:1-8 (5th Sunday of Easter, year b)

While studying theology, I lived in a dormitory which has a large courtyard. Above the courtyard is a trellis in which grows an enormous grapevine, creating a kind of natural roof. The courtyard is a great place to read, especially during the summer as the leaves from the grapevine provided great shade. One day I sat in the courtyard reading Jesus’ parable that we heard in the Gospel, in which He says that He is the vine and we are the branches. That day, while looking at the grapevine above me, I was able to appreciate the lessons of the parable in a new way.

I noticed for the first time that fruit only grows on the branches and never on the vine to which the branches are connected. Jesus is the vine and we are the branches.  It is through us that Jesus continues His ministry of love and healing in the world today. If we, His followers, do not bear fruit, we prevent Jesus from continuing His work. St. Theresa of Avila illustrates well this principle that fruit is found on the branches and not the vine:

Christ has no body but yours,

No hands, no feet on earth but yours,

Yours are the eyes with which he looks

Compassion on this world,

Yours are the feet with which he walks to do good.

Recently, Nepal and the surrounding area were devastated by a powerful earthquake. Thousands were killed. Hundreds of thousands are in desperate need of food, water and shelter. As we watch these events unfold on the news we can think to ourselves “Jesus, do something to help these people!” Jesus will help these people, but how? Will He make food and shelter drop from the sky? Hardly. It is through us that Jesus aids these people in need. Thankfully, different countries have provided assistance and many individuals have donated money. People are in need and we are in a position to help. Fruit only grows on the branches. Jesus is active in the world through the Church, which is His Body.

Another lesson described by Jesus in the parable that I observed while sitting beneath the grapevine was that when a branch becomes separated from the vine, it quickly shrivels up and dies. Sap, containing life giving nutrients, flows from the vine and into the branches. When the branch is no longer connected to the vine, the flow of this sap ceases and the branch perishes. Jesus is the vine and we are the branches. When we are connected to Him, we receive His life, something we call grace. We receive grace when we stay close to Him in daily prayer and regular reception of the sacraments, especially the Eucharist. In fact, Jesus’ parable has Eucharistic undertones as wine, the “fruit of the vine”, is an indispensable element of the Mass. When we separate ourselves from Jesus, the flow of His life into us is cut off. This can happen is different two main ways, one sudden and the other more gradual.

1. We are separated from Jesus the vine suddenly when we sin seriously. Breaking away from Jesus in this way is something that we are generally more on our guard against.
2. We become cut off from Jesus and His life in a gradually. We begin to pray less. We go to confession more and more seldomly. We give ourselves permission to miss Mass from time to time. This way of becoming separated from Jesus the vine is less obvious and expected and therefore in some ways more dangerous. Over time our actions demonstrate that we don’t think we need Jesus as much as He says we do.

The final lesson from the parable that became clear while sitting beneath the grapevine is that the branches must be regularly pruned if they are to bear fruit. Each year when the weather turned cold, a gardener would come and prune the large grapevine. It was surprising how much of the plant he cut off. Later in the spring, however, the grapevine grew back stronger and more fruitful than before. Likewise, God prunes us so that we can be more fruitful instruments of Jesus in the world. Being pruned is not a pleasant thing.  God prunes us effectively by means of people we live in community with: family, friends and coworkers. Life in community is a kind of heavenly rock tumbler. A rock tumbler is a small, hollow, machine that you put small stones into.  Each stone has its own jagged edges.  After the stones have been placed in the machine and you turn it on, it begins to spin.  As the machine turns over and over, the rocks tumble inside, hitting each other and grinding one against the other and the sides of the machine.  Slowly but surely, the jagged edges of the stones rub one another smooth.  After some time each stone becomes polished and beautiful. We are like these stones.  Just as the stones have their rough edges, each of us have our own weaknesses and idiosyncrasies, for example, impatience, pride, or laziness.  As we live together, we have confrontations and frustrate one another.  We smash into each other like the stones inside the rock-tumbler. Over time we begin to see that the weaknesses and idiosyncrasies of those we live with are opportunities for growth.  With God’s grace, living with others can make us more patient, sympathetic towards others and capable of cooperation.  Like the stones inside the rock-tumbler, we become more polished – our weaknesses become smoothed.  Living with others, especially those who we don’t get along with easily, is one of the ways that God prunes us, making us capable of producing greater fruit.

In the parable of the vine and the branches, Jesus gives us an incredibly encouraging message. He loves and trusts us so much that He wants us to be the instruments through which He continues His mission in the world. Provided we remain with Him, Jesus will always strengthen us with His life, helping us bear fruit. The parable of the vine and branches challenges us to rethink the way we view hardship. What is a difficulty you currently face, particularly when it comes to those you live with? What would change if instead of viewing this merely as suffering you wished would go away, you saw it as a way that God is pruning you? He sees you are already bearing good fruit. God is pleased with you and wants you to produce even greater fruit in the future.

Personal update: back to school!

With the recent publication of the Pastoral Appointments for 2015, it was made official that come mid-July I will be going back to school. Since the news has been out, people have asked me questions about what comes next and how I am approaching this change in my life. Here's some answers.

What will I study? Where? For how long?

Before ordination priests are required to study philosophy and theology. After we obtain a general degree in theology, it is possible to study deeper in a specific area. I will be pursuing further studies in Sacred Scripture. Specifically, I work towards completing a Licentiate in Sacred Scripture. A licentiate is the second of three degrees offered by Pontifical Universities: baccalaureate, licentiate and doctorate.

Pontifical Biblical Institute

I will study at the Pontifical Biblical Institute (aka Biblicum) in Rome. The Biblicum was founded by Pope St. Pius X in 1904 as a center for advanced studies in Scripture. From the start, the Biblicum has been run by the Jesuits. Interestingly, the current head of the school, Fr. Michael Kolarcik SJ, was born in New Westminster, Canada.

If all goes well, it will take me three years to complete my studies at the Biblicum. The program will require a lot of language studies, something I find more than a little intimidating. Before the program begins in October I will go to Germany for a couple months to study German. During my first year at the Biblicum I will study ancient Greek and Hebrew. In the following two years I will take courses in biblical history, geography, archaeology and methods of interpretation. While studying in Rome, I will live at the Canadian Pontifical College (in Rome everything is "Pontifical"!). Since 1888 this has been a residence for Canadian priests in Rome. It is run by the Sulpician religious community.

Pontifical Canadian College

How do I feel about the change?

As my younger friends would say, I have many “feels” about it! On the one hand I feel sad leaving behind my family and the friends I made in the three parishes I served at in the past few years: St. Matthew, St. Joseph the Worker and St. Paul. I really love working in a parish, particularly because I have the chance to interact with so many great people. I enjoy serving them and I appreciate the kindness and support they show me. Leaving this behind will be difficult. I also feel some anxiety. I am unsure about how everything will work out, particularly because my area of studies will be quite challenging for me. On the other hand, I am very excited to go back to school. I am a big nerd so studying is something I really enjoy. I love the idea of studying Scripture. St. Jerome famously said “ignorance of Scripture is ignorance of Christ”. By reducing my ignorance of Scripture, I hope to get to know Jesus better! The idea of being in Rome again makes me happy. Previously I lived there for three years while I studied theology and I love the city. I am very grateful to Archbishop Miller for this opportunity and I intend work hard and make the most of it. It will be a great chance for me to grow personally and I hope that these studies will help me to better serve the Archdiocese of Vancouver in the future. So many feels!

When I leave to study in July, the nature of this blog will probably change. Since I will no longer be working in a parish, I will not be regularly posting homilies. Instead, I hope to write some reflections about my experiences studying Scripture and living in Rome. Thank you all for your support and prayers during this time of transition for me!