LOVING THE IDEA OF LOVE

The late rector of the Suwon Seminary is quoted as saying that "we became priests to love many and probably end up loving no one?"

A priest from the diocese reflecting on this found it to be very true in his regard.
There were two very small children who came to the Church to play after school and were a problem for the sisters, the office man and those working around the
Church. The problem could have been the lack of control in the family and the poverty of their up bringing. The Church community tried in many ways to improve their behavior with little change.

One day going over to the Church the priest met the smaller of the two and tried in his best possible manner to treat the child with kindness. "Hi, you have come to the Church!" He made for the door of the Church and the child ran up to him and said: "Father why is it that every time you see me you have a frown on your face?"

That child who was in the first grade, "was able to read my heart". The priest froze at the question of the child. He talked about love, human rights, busy with the pastoral work, communicated with his fellow priests and trying to be all things to everybody but this children was able to see into his heart.

The priest ended his reflection with the Russian writer Tolstoy. He talked a great deal about love for human kind and tried to live this but his wife Sophia said after his death that he was more in love with his idea of love than loving itself. He did not take care of his family. Instead of loving he loved liberty and the equality of love for humanity.

He continued with a quote from the Talmud: "a person who saves one person also saves the world." If we look at the life of Our Lord it is not difficult to see how he related with the individuals that he met. Yes, at times we can be more in love with love than with the actual practice of it in our lives.

The Gift of Mission

In the East Asian Pastoral Review vol. 44 Fr. James H. Kroeger M.M. had an article The Gift of Mission in which he asks , why mission? What ends does mission really serve? The bishops of Asia have grappled with these questions for years. There are over 4 billion people in Asia and only 3 percent Christian. It is an important question. The bishops have collectively asserted: "We evangelize , first of all, from a deep sense of gratitude to God the Father who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing (Eph 1:3). Mission is above all else an overflow of this life from grateful hearts transformed by the grace of God."


He mentioned that it is probably the experience of giving and receiving gifts in Asia that prompted this response on the part of the bishops. He then presents in the "Asian" reflection
three interrelated moments of what might be termed "gift of missiology." Three "R" words capture mission as gift. Recognise, Receive, and Reciprocate. We have to recognize the uniqueness of God's gift. Receive it by personally appropriating God's gift. Reciprocate by sharing God's gift with others.

Mathew 10:8 succinctly captured this in: "What you have received as a gift, give as a gift"
"Without a personal experience of this life received as gift and mercy, no sense of mission can flourish."

It is possibly the lack of this personal experience of having received a gift that makes for the poor showing of our many Catholics at the Sunday Mass and the absence of desire for fellowship with Jesus and our fellow disciples.