At the end of the Spiritual Exercises, St. Ignatius of Loyola asks the retreatant to enter in to the Contemplation to Attain Love. Ignatius gives two pre-notes about love to help the retreatant to understand the height and breadth and depth of God’s love, so that he or she might respond in full-hearted love. The first is: “Love ought to manifest itself more by deeds than by words.” Talk is cheap. It is the living out of love that matters. The second is: “Love consists in a mutual communication between two persons. That is, the one who loves gives and communicates to the beloved what he or she has, or a part of what he or she has or can have; and the beloved in return does the same to the lover. …Each shares with the other.” (Spiritual Exercises, 230-231. Ganss)
At Christmas, Lent, Holy Week and Eastertime, we encounter the mystery of God’s love for us. Jesus is the lover who loves us – all of us. He is also the Second Person of the Blessed Trinity, the Word of God, and the Son of the Father. He became human in Mary’s womb and was born for us and as one of us. What does Jesus share with us and what do we share with Him? St. Augustine tells us the Son of God “had no power of Himself to die for us: He had to take on our mortal human flesh. This was the way in which, through immortal, He was able to die; the way in which He chose to give life to mortal man: He would first share with us and then enable us to share with Him. Of ourselves we had no power to live, nor did He of Himself have the power to die” (Liturgy of the Hours, Office of Readings, Monday of Holy Week).
“Accordingly, He effected a wonderful exchange with us, through mutual sharing: we gave Him the power to die, He gave us the power to live.” We gave Him death; He gave us eternal life! “He loved us so much that, sinless Himself, He suffered for us the punishment we deserved for our sins.” Jesus took upon Himself the worst that humans could do, so that He could both feel and understand all suffering, bringing that into God that we might never doubt that God understands and feels compassion for us. In His love, Jesus gives us eternal life, unlocking for us the path to eternity. This is not just a matter of hope, for He has given us the Holy Spirit – the Spirit of Love, our Advocate and Comforter – to be with us and to slowly transform us into being lovers, too. As St. Paul tells us, we are to “put on Christ.” “It is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me.”
As we read the Easter Gospels, we become more and more aware of the power of love. Mary Magdalene and the other women go to the tomb early in the morning.
Although they believe Jesus is dead, their love brings them to the tomb to anoint His Body, completing the Jewish burial rites. But the tomb is open and Jesus is not there. The angel tells them that Jesus is risen. When Mary Magdalene tells the Apostles, only Peter and John go to the tomb to see for themselves. It is as the women have told them. The Gospel tells us that John “saw and believed. For they did not yet understand the Scripture that He had to rise from the dead” (20:8-9). Peter’s love was shaken by his three-fold denial and Jesus’ crucifixion. He was still caught up in his own failure. John saw with the eyes of love and knew in his heart that Jesus had risen from the dead. Jesus then appears to Mary Magdalene to console her and to speak her name, “Mary.” As Isaiah tells us, God knows each of us by name, because He loves us.
Knowing that most of the Apostles do not believe the women when they tell them that Jesus will appear to them in Galilee, Jesus’ love leads Him to appear to them in the Upper Room in Jerusalem. “Peace be with you,” he tells them. He shows them the wounds in His hands and His side and eats with them. Jesus then seeks out the two disciples on the way to Emmaus. His love seeks out the stray and He opens the Scriptures to them, revealing passages in Isaiah and the psalms that speak of how the Messiah must suffer and die. “It was our pain that He bore, our sufferings He endured. …He was pierced for our sins, crushed for our iniquity. He bore the punishment that makes us whole, by His wounds we were healed” (Isaiah 53:4-5). How often has a parent, whose child is undergoing an operation, said they wish they could take the child’s pain to themselves? Jesus, in His love for us, took on the pain of our punishment and saved us from our sins. Jesus then reveals Himself to the two disciples in the breaking of the bread.
We gave Jesus death. He gives us life. Do we really realize how much each of us is loved? We are loved not to think that we are special, but in order to free us that we might become more and more like the One who loves us: Jesus Christ, who is risen for us. The gift of Jesus’ love led Peter and the disciples to go out and witness to Jesus’ love and to the resurrection. It led them to form a community in which “They devoted themselves to the teaching of the apostles and to the communal life, to the breaking of the bread (the earliest name for the Eucharist), and to the prayers” (Acts 2:42). They lived in love and, following the Holy Spirit, they reached out beyond the Jewish community to the Samaritans, the Roman centurion, the Ethiopian official, then to all of the world. As disciples, we continue that life and that work of witness. Christ is risen for us. Will we love Him and all of our brothers and sisters in return?
Let us pray: Loving Jesus, You died for us and You rose for us. May we die to those things that keep us from You and from loving our neighbor as You teach us to do. Help us to live in love that others might see Your life in us and come to believe in You. We ask this of the Father in Your Name Jesus, and in the power of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
Jesuit Father John Michalowski is the parochial vicar of St. Peter Church in Charlotte.