Deacon Steve's Homily - Love is wanting the absolute best for others - 23rd Sunday Ordinary – A

Today’s readings are all about love.

Paul says in his letter to the Romans:

You shall love your neighbor as yourself."  Love does no evil to the neighbor; hence, love is the fulfillment of the law.

You may know that I really enjoy listening to children’s responses to certain questions.

Not too long ago a group of children were asked about love and marriage.

Here are a few of their responses:

"Love is like an avalanche where you have to run for your life." -- John, age 9

If falling in love is anything like learning how to spell, I don't want to do it. It takes too long." -- Glenn, age 7

"I think you're supposed to get shot with an arrow or something, but the rest of it isn't supposed to be so painful." -- Manuel, age 8

"Love is the most important thing in the world, but baseball is pretty good too." -- Greg, age 8

"Once I'm done with kindergarten, I'm going to find me a wife." -- Tom, age 5

"I'm not rushing into being in love. I'm finding fourth grade hard enough." -- Regina, age 10

Love is a word that we hear practically every day.

It’s probably the one word in our English language that can have the broadest of meanings.

The children’s responses that I just read certainly point that out. 

We only have one word to describe the many different types of ‘love’.

Today I presided at the wedding of a couple whose love for each other was evident in their sacramental commitment to each other.

Theirs is the love between a husband and wife.

Love can also be the love that a parent has for a child. 

It can be the love that a child has for a parent. 

It can be the love between brothers and sisters and perhaps ‘best’ friends. 

And of course it can be used to describe romantic love.

Love is often used to describe how much a person likes certain things.

We all know that Fr. Vince loves to go fishing (or catching as he likes to say).

Fr. Dave loves the Chicago Cubs.

Deacon Ron loves to golf; of course he is an excellent golfer. 

I would love golf, too, if I golfed as well as him.

And you probably know that I would say that I love chocolate and ice cream and sports.  

As we know, love can have many different meanings to all of us.

We hear so much today about love.

Is love a feeling, is it an attraction, is it chemistry, or what?  

Love can certainly be manifested in the ways I mentioned, but the real definition of love is that you want the absolute best for someone. 

As followers of Christ, we are told throughout the Gospels to love our enemies, aren’t we?

To emphasize the importance of love Paul says:        

“Owe nothing to anyone, except to love one another; for the one who loves another has fulfilled the law.”

So, we as committed Christians should want the absolute best for everyone, even those we don’t particularly like.

We may not like them, but we are called to love them and want the absolute best for them.

And what is the absolute best? 

The absolute best for anyone is having eternal life in God’s heavenly kingdom. 

<pause>

Jesus showed us all that loving someone can require personal sacrifice:

A sacrifice of time, more prayer, money or the sacrifice of just being present when you would rather be somewhere else.

We don’t have to look any further than the cross itself for what true love is.

Jesus was willing to suffer and die on the cross because he wanted the absolute best for all of us.

<Pause>

My friends, love is more than sentimental feelings.  Remember, its wanting the absolute best for others.

Sometimes true love means correcting someone when they are doing something that is destructive or harmful to themself.

Parents don’t we correct our children when they do something dangerous?

When they first begin crawling and they reach for the electrical outlet we correct them, don’t we?

Or, when they are a bit older and they begin to play with fire don’t we correct them?

Of course we do because we don’t want them to be harmed.  <Pause>

Our readings remind us of the importance of warning and correcting those who we love when they are neglecting their relationship with God and living contrary to God’s laws.

In our first reading God tells the prophet Ezekiel:

“You, son of man, I have appointed watchman for the house of Israel;

when you hear me say anything, you shall warn them for me.”

God held Ezekiel responsible for the spiritual well-being of a nation.

In our Gospel reading from Matthew, Jesus addresses something that we don’t like to talk about - the issue of sin and correction.

Jesus gives us a blueprint of how to love others when they sin and are in need of correction.

This is not easy; in fact, most of us shy away from this to avoid any confrontation or accusation of being nosy or intolerant.

We need to remember that Jesus showed us that true love is sacrificial.

He always put the needs of others first, no matter how painful it was going to be for him.

Well if we really do love the person that’s in need of correction then we want the absolute best for them. 

If that’s the case, then we need to reach out to that person in an honest and loving way and do our best to draw him or her closer to Christ.

My friends, this week let’s remember that true ‘love’ means to want the absolute best for others, especially those we are closest to.

God wants that for us – that’s why Jesus suffered, died, and rose from the dead – so that all of us can have the absolute best -  eternal life.

In a few minutes we will approach the altar to receive our Lord in Holy Communion.

Let’s pray that God will give us the strength and the courage to ‘love’ as Jesus taught.    

God bless you all!