The Monthly Note
March 2012
Dying of love
by Jacques Lauzier, o.p.
Dying of love. This theme was often used in lyrical and written poetry. From Offenbach to Charles Aznavour, without forgetting Therese de Lisieux, much was written and sung about the absence of the loved one and/or his or her disappearance due to all sorts of causes. But, only one truly lived it completely and He decided, of His own free will to lovingly offer His life.
In his «old age» and after a life of struggle, evangelisation and meditation, Saint John combined in one phrase the essence of our creator: GOD IS LOVE. This three word phrase sums up all of Jesus’ life and teaching, including His Passion, His death…but also His Resurrection.
During Lent, it is this gift of love from Jesus that the Church wants us to remember through fasting, prayer and alms. That is why, before beginning His public life, Jesus spent 40 days without food, praying His Father in the secret of the desert, preparing for the great gift of His life…lovingly. He knew that His human side would have to take up the challenge of being tempted to use his divinity in order to avoid suffering and dying.
And that is what the Tempter will try to do at the end of the forty days. But the physical weaknesses caused by the lack of food were strengthened when the Devil made the offers that we know. The physical void in His body was replaced by « all the words that come out of the mouth of God» that have nourished Him during these forty days. It was Love that was the essence of the divine dialogue between the Father and the Son during these forty days. Love was His nourishment.
Jesus might not have eaten bread while in the desert but He was filled with Love. His Father’s love and His Love for His Father. Love for His Father, the Creator of Heaven and Earth meant love for all His Work, meaning for the Creatures that we are. And this love for us is so strong that the Crafty One’s suggestions were useless next to the «planned» result by His Father for all eternity: humankind’s redemption from influence of sin by a gesture of love. That is why confronted to this, He accepted to die of Love.
Now that Jesus has returned to His Father, the ball is in our court, if we can say that. It is up to us to show of what kind of love we are made of. Of what kind of love we are ready to give for our brothers and sisters in order for love to triumph over suffering, despair and death. Because, quoting old man Saint John: « If someone says: ‘ I love God’, and he hates his brother, then he is a liar; how can someone who does not love his brother that he sees, loves God that he does not see?». We have less than forty days to die of love...to die to love more…others.
In other words, dying of love.
