Love
is at the Service of Others
"You shall love your neighbor as yourself"
( Lk 19:18)
We say,“I love
this person.”It means I see him or her with the eyes of God, who gives us
everything for our happiness. This helps me more to find ways to help the outcast
in the society. Love helps others and is ever ready to do anything for others. In
this way,thecouples promise love everyday by the simple gesture of doing good
to one another without hurting.
The sacrament of
marriage is intended “to perfect the couple’s Love” as scripture says, “Even if
I have faith, so as to remove mountains but have not love, I am nothing.”Love
must be the first priority for the couples. Love is experienced and nurtured in
the daily life of the couple and their children. It is helpful to thrust more
deeply the meaning of this Pauline text (1 Cor15:4-7) and its relevance to the concrete
situation of every family. God’s love is proclaimed through conjugal love and
through their children.The family extendsits love for the neighbors around.Love
shows compassion and acceptance. It welcomes people as they are.Sometimes
people act differently because they need love.The family welcomes and reaches
out to others, especially the poor and the neglected where they can share their
love.
Jesus asks us to
share our love towards the neighbor who is in need. Is it possible for us to extend
our hands to help needypeople?Jesus asks us not to decide who is close enough
to be our neighbour, but rather we ourselves become neighbours to all. Pope
Francis says in the encyclical FratelliTutti:The
Parable of Good Samaritan shows the best example to share the love for
neighbours (Lk 10:25-37). Love does not care where the wounded brother comes
from.Because it is love that breaks the chains that isolate and separate us,
building bridges; love that allows us to build a big family where we all can
feel at home. Love that smacks of compassion and dignity.Love does not care whether
a brother or sister in need comes from one place or another. St. Ignatius of Loyolasaid
that Love is shown more by deeds than by words. It thus shows its fruitfulness
and allows as to experience the happiness of giving.It manifests the nobility
and grandeur of spending ourselves unstintingly, without asking tobe repaid. Ultimately,
love ispurely for the pleasure of giving and serving.
I would like to
narrate what happened during this pandemic to the migrant workers. The epidemic
made the migrant workers to beg food for their survival because the companies
shut the doors of canteens and there is no more service to them. They were
looking forward for the companies to help but that never happened.When we came to
know about their situation, we support them by providing food and food grains
as package for cooking.We also arrangedtransportation for them to reach their
hometown. In this way, we can share love towards the needy people and care for
our own brothers and sisters. Love is shown to neighbors in such acts of random
kindness and thoughtfulness.
The modern era has
givena lot of space for the couple wherein they can free themselves from the
marriage bond and enjoy individual life.This questions the promise that was made
on the wedding day. Though there are misunderstanding between couples, they can
come together for a dialogue.It showsthat there is love binding them together in
spite of all inabilities. People may hate you, but there is good in them that help
us to love them. Above all, they are images of God.The scripture says, “Love one
another as I have loved you.” We must love ourselves first, thenwe can to
extend it to others. “Let each of you look not only to his own intentions, but
also to the intentions of others” (Phil 2:4).
How can we help
the couplesto understand their love for each other? Howcould they share their
love towards the neighbors or the needy people?
Can we take care
of the people in need love and show care for each other?
Will we bend down
to touch and heal the wounds of others? Will we bend down to shoulder each
other?
Fr. Arulkumar SDB
Regional Ecclesial Team Tamil Nadu
Worldwide Marriage Encounter
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