God’s love changes burdens into blessings
1 John 4:19–5:4
Beloved, we love God because he first loved us. If anyone
says, “I love God,” but hates his brother, he is a liar; for whoever does not
love a brother whom he has seen cannot love God whom he has not seen. This is
the commandment we have from him: Whoever loves God must also love his brother.
Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ is begotten by God, and everyone
who loves the Father loves also the one begotten by him. In this way we know
that we love the children of God when we love God and obey his commandments. For
the love of God is this, that we keep his commandments. And his commandments
are not burdensome, for whoever is begotten by God conquers the world. And the
victory that conquers the world is our faith.
Sometimes
people see the life of a priest as an intolerable burden. Seeing that we are
celibate and do not get married, my friends say, “Fr. John, how can you be a
priest??” And I sometimes look at my married friends and think, “How can you be
married??” What is it that makes a burden to one person feel like a blessing to
another person? Well, the difference is love. Because I love being a priest, I
don’t feel celibacy as a burden. Because you love your spouse – or you did in
the beginning! – you don’t feel married life as a burden. The same goes for
children. I was at a family’s home recently with lots of children, and they
were running wild. The mother said to me, “I bet you’re glad you became a
priest!” I replied, “Oh, no, you’re children are lovely.” In the back of my
mind, I thought: “Yep, in one hour I will be at home watching Sports Center and
drinking a beer.” Obviously, children can be a burden at times for parents,
too, but that burden feels more like a blessing to them because of love. You
see, love changes burdens into blessings.
In the first reading today, St. John tries
to make this same connection about love. He writes, “For the love of God is
this, that we keep his commandments.” Now comes the key line, St. John
concludes, “And his commandments are not burdensome.” I’m sure that some people
in the first century thought that being thrown to the lions in the Roman
Coliseum was a little burdensome! But John would reply with a smile, “Not if
you have the love of God.” The same goes for celibacy, and for marriage, and
for wild children. You see, what makes the difference is love. Like the old
adage says, “If you love what you do, you’ll never work a day in your life.”
Love can change burdens into blessings.
My friends,
do the commandments of God feel like a burden to you? Is it hard to be a
Christian and always do the right thing: to be a celibate priest, to stay
married for 50 years, to be lunch for the lions in the Coliseum, to turn the
other cheek when someone offends you, to help someone in need when you don’t
feel like it, to be patient with someone who’s being a jerk, to avoid taking
short-cuts, to pay your taxes!? Well, if you’d like all these burdens to feel
more like blessings, you need more love. And I don’t mean just any old love,
but the love of God. So, pray for that love.
I say this
prayer every day: “Come, Holy Spirit, fill the hearts of your faithful, and
kindle in them the fire of your love” – and I don’t mean the Kindle Fire tablet
that’s available from Amazon! -- “Send forth your Spirit, and they shall be
created. And you shall renew the face of the earth.” You see, the Holy Spirit
IS the love of God, and when he kindles the fire of his love in you, burdens
begin to feel more like blessings.
Praised be
Jesus Christ!
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