LOVE | KAIROS GLOBAL | PILOT ISSUE | 2017

Author: Agnes Sunny

Intro : Agnes Sunny explores the beautiful relationship between our heavenly Father, love, and us...We need to be full of His love that we may be able to love others.

An artist creates something they have thought of.

He or she has a sense of it in their mind. It could be a painting, a song, or an essay. They hold the idea close to their hearts.

As Bishop Fulton Sheen describes it, the artist

becomes the first lover of a piece of art. The emotions conveyed to

anyone looking at a piece of art is the heart of the artist, captured

and expressed in a way to reach the viewer. This is the beautiful

relationship between our heavenly Father, love, and us.

It’s through our heavenly Father that we receive and

experience true love, the same love with which He created us. It

is this same love that we are called to share with others. People

kept from going close to Him, because they felt unworthy in the

presence of His glory, majesty, and might. Therefore, He sent His

son to become one among us and to bridge the distance between

God and man forever. He never wants us to feel far away. We are

worthy, and He promises to hold us close to His heart. Each and

every day, he keeps His promise through the presence of Jesus

in the Holy Eucharist. He gives Himself completely to us in the

Eucharist during the miraculous moments of the consecration at

Holy Mass. The truth is that He waited for you and me all this

while. He is therefore the true source of Love.

We associate love with the things we like a lot. We love

certain people more than others, we love certain hobbies more

than others. We love something that makes us happy, we love

someone who makes our eyes twinkle. Yet the love we receive

from Jesus sometimes differs from this rosy perspective of

love that we hold dear. He teaches us a love that is sacrificial

and requires self-denial; a love that is about selfless giving and

seeking the good of another. His death on the cross captures

completely the true meaning of love.

We have been created in the image and likeness of God, for a

purpose no other human being can fulfill. We are told to ‘‘Love

your neighbor as you love yourself,”, but we often ignore the “as

you love yourself.” Loving yourself is very important, for when

you love yourself, you are taking

care of your heavenly Father’s

creation. Don’t be harsh on

yourself, rely on Him completely.

Be ready to receive love as well. If

you ever feel empty, incomplete, or

drained, run to Him in the Blessed

Sacrament, trust Him, allow Him to

take care of you.

You can give to others only what

you have. We need to be full of His

love that we may be able to love

others. We need to be receptive of

His love. The amazing lives of saints prove how important the

role of true, authentic, and selfless love plays in our journey to

Heaven. Saint Pope John Paul II lost his entire family; almost

everyone he loved, by the age of twenty. A person in that

situation would usually be broken, lonely, and probably bitter.

Yet, he inspired people with his contagious joy and enthusiasm,

all because he was full of the love he received from Jesus in the

Eucharist. Saint Pope John Paul II said, ‘‘From the Eucharist

comes the strength to live the Christian life.”

St. Therese of Lisieux set before a beautiful model and

goal when she said ‘‘My vocation is love.’’ Love is incomplete

without humility. We bow down with reverence when the sacred

monstrance is lifted up by the priest, and we believe that it is

Jesus fully alive there with us. The same Jesus we bow down to

is present in the people we meet in church after celebrating the

Holy Mass and now they become the monstrance; another sacred

vessel carrying the person of Jesus. Are we able to love them? Are

we able to bow down and help them? Do we acknowledge the fact

that they carry Jesus in them? Love is demanding, but He asks

you and me to be courageous. Let us look to Jesus on the cross

and the saints who have gone before us to step forward with this

great love.

Agnes Sunny is an engineering graduate, currently working as a marketing

professional in Mumbai