The
world loves to speak of love. We all know the old cliché “It’s love that makes
the world go round”. But by “love,” the modern world really means “sex” and all
the short-lived, superficial passions that accompany it. This certainly does
not mean that sex is bad, or superficial, or undesirable. To the contrary, it
is part of the order in this world created by God, and of everything that he
created, “God saw that it was good…and indeed, it was very good.” But the modern
world has divorced sex from the God who created it, and in doing so has
separated it from the elevated and profound purpose which God destined
as its end. In cutting mankind off from God who is love and the source of all
our love, modern secular society has come to equate sex with love.
You
do not have to look very far to see this. Switch on your TV in the evening, or
glance briefly at the magazine covers in the local supermarket. You could also
try the Divorce Court rolls in the
newspapers. The high rate of divorce on the grounds of infidelity proves
that a large proportion of human beings still believes in mutual fidelity, but
that lifelong mutual fidelity isn’t working. Why? Because we are no longer able
to rely upon the enduring Love of God, we have been forced to make do with that
feeble emotion we humans call love. Christians need to ponder the limitless
mystery of God’s love, for it is the very reason why we were created, why we
continue to exist, and why there is still hope for us all, and a reason for us
to soldier on despite the negativity we see around us every day.
If you ever wondered what was wrong
with the world, think of that figure on the cross, selfless, dying to set us
free, giving us a love that rescues us from our ugliness and hatefulness – yes,
even the young, beautiful and rich – and makes us beautiful and lovable.
Think of that image; and then look at the world around you. God never meant us
to live like this – struggling to survive on our own shallow passions. He
always willed us to live in his love, and he wills us to do so still.
Do you think there is even a choice as
to what sort of love, human or divine, the world needs? what sort of love is
our only hope? For it is the one hope to which we might cling, the only certainty
which will never fail. Let us choose that hope today. Let us
welcome into our lives the everlasting hope and salvation offered only by the
Love of God. In a word, let us submit our lives, our hope our all, to
the God of Love.
Fr Phillip
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