Transcript
We are called today to show and live our faith and to express love in real ways, to be people with an attitude of love. A walk in the shops these last few days and we’ve seen many Valentine’s greeting cards. I hope someone wished you a Happy Valentine’s Day. If not, from me to you, Happy Valentine’s Day! We are all called as people of faith to be people of the heart, to be those for whom love takes form, not in the Valentine form, but in the real stuff of life. Saint Francis of Assisi was drawn to the heart of Jesus he wanted in a real way to imitate Jesus and show love to all so much so, he called everything and every one brother or sister! During the week I visited a man who had been married for 66 years. His wife died last year and I was connecting with him to see how he was. After this man’s wife died, he was rather lost. He had planned to go first. A diabetic. Every night at 10pm, he and his wife shared a snack that helped regulate his blood sugar through the night. Every night at 10pm, they broke bread, literally, they ate toast. We were talking for some time the other day, and I was asking him does he still have his toast at 10pm? He shook his head with definitive clarity, “No. No toast Father.” He was teary eyed and getting more emotional. But Jim, I said, “you had toast every day with Betty!” “No” he said, “Because I hate toast.” I was baffled and leaned back in the chair and said, “Wait. For 66 years, every night you ate toast and you don’t like toast?” He said, “Yeah, that’s right”. “Oh boy, you did that for so long”. There was a pause as we sat across the table. “That’s amazing” I said. “How come you did that?” I queried. And Jim said “Because Betty loved toast Father. That’s why I ate toast.” That’s what it means, for me, to dwell in the heart of God. It is not soft or luxurious. It is to be so willing to step outside the ego of self that we are drawn into the heart of another. We are drawn into the heart of God. Sometimes we are the one who makes the toast for another and sometimes we are the one who eats it because that’s what love calls us to do. It is never one or the other, it is always both/and. We are called to live our faith with action, to really show our care, love and compassion to others. We are called to move beyond lip-service. You can model this in your life and show your beliefs are real. I dream in these days after Valentine’s day that we not be afraid to show our love. I dream where we will each have the chance to make the toast and to eat the toast of love. May you do all you can this week to be motivated by love. Do all you can to be motivated by your heart. Be a person of love! What is love asking of you today?