There is no point in being a Christian, there is no point in praying . . . there is no point in receiving any of the Sacraments . . . unless we are very determined to exercise love, to grow in love, and to express love. The first and greatest commandment, and the second which is inseparable from it, sum up all the law of God for us. Since God is Love, and He longs for us to be united with Him, it is difficult to see how any other command could possibly be greater than the most glorious one which insists on love being our all embracing purpose in life. . .
Our Lord expressly told His disciples that it was because of His sufferings that He Himself entered in glory. It was because of His Cross that He, in His human form, entered into the full glory of Love at God’s right hand. It is, I think, true to say that the suffering and death of Christ released His love, released it to such an extent that He became the source of eternal life, the life of love, for all who believe in Him. Before He died, although He loved His own, they did not receive the outpouring of that love . . . into their own souls . . . But His death, as seen from earth, was His resurrection, as seen from heaven, and the Mystery of the Cross opened the floodgates of His love, not just as His love for us, but of His love poured into us and becoming our love. “I will live in you and you will live in Me. Jesus suffered for us to take away our sins, it is true, but the least suffering of His would have been sufficient to do that. He suffered so that His love might become not only His love for us but our love for Him and our love for one another. His suffering was not only . . . a punishment He endured in our place; it was life-giving, love-giving. . .
Some time before Pope John Paul II wrote his letter about suffering, Salvifici Dolores (Feb. 11, 1984), he had told many suffering people that the way to deal with suffering is to look at it and admit to yourself what it is and not pretend it is not there, then, secondly, to accept it, and thirdly, to offer it to God. This acceptance of the Christian meaning of sorrows and sufferings not only makes suffering extremely productive of love, but also makes it very much easier to bear. And, of course, if we look at it in this way, we can unite it with Our Lord’s sufferings and also ask Him with great assurance to carry our cross with us. . .
I do not personally think that we are all given the grace to love the Cross in the sense that some of the Saints have, actually wanting sufferings, even an increase in them. I think this is a special grace and not given to everyone, even if that person is very holy and pleasing to God. Some of us are called to be saints by faithfulness to God in small and insignificant works and small and insignificant sufferings, and some of us my be very pleasing to God when we find great difficulty in accepting small upsets and difficulties really cheerfully and well. It is not always a sign of holiness or goodness when a person bears great sufferings heroically in appearance. Some people are more affected by fear than others, and heroism is sometimes attributed to people who have no fear. If you have no fear, there is no heroism involved in facing danger, and if you have a great fear of small sufferings, then your bearing them is something great. Only God can really judge these things.
What you and I can do is to try to appreciate just how wonderfully our love can be expressed and increased by accepting our inevitable small upsets, pains, or troubles with an understanding of their Christian meaning. If we ask Our Lord to join us in them, He will not only help us to put up with them, but even enable us to be pleased to have something to offer God out of love, even if it is very, very small in comparison with the Cross of Christ. It is quite remarkable how we can grow in love and virtue if we once really become gripped with an appreciation of the great value of our little crosses. “Take up your cross daily, and follow Me,” Jesus said. Instead of reluctantly doing the things we dislike but have to do anyway, we begin to do them willingly and even gladly. Life becomes much happier because its little sorrows are turned into joys out of love for Jesus and His love for us. . .
I am sure we can all grow in love for God and our neighbor, and all experience the presence of God loving us, if we become more cheerful inwardly as small crosses come our way, as unwelcome tasks are given to us, as we have to keep going when very tired or unable to sleep or feeling under the weather. Let us unite all these things to the Cross of Christ and make them a very valuable and effective prayer. . .
May we all us every gift God gives us to enable us to love more, especially those things we are so tempted to regard as useless, the things that cause us sorrow but which can be turned into the joy of love.
