Love, True Love

Love has been on my heart, on my mind, and in my prayer lately.

Today it was cold, blustery, snowy, and after attending 7 am mass this morning I made a decision that I wasn't going to leave the house for the rest of the day...because that just sounded like a terrible idea. So I took up residence on the couch - took my prayer time, applied to jobs, did some reading, and scrolled pinterest for a while. Then I started self-loathing. Woe is me, blah blah blah...crap.

Basically, there was this boy...and I fell for him. He told me all sorts of things that would make a girl think she meant something more to him...and then he started dating someone else. At first I was bitter and angry, then I decided I just needed to forgive him and move on, but now a part of me is like I just miss his friendship. Anyway, so I was thinking about this and sort of dwelling on it. And this thought came to mind: when we really love someone we desire their holiness more than anything else. If we truly love someone, or truly desire something - we should want the best possible life for that person, and we should be willing to let go of our own desire, our own want and truly surrender it to God. I was reading another blog this morning and the author was talking about a time of discernment for her. She was dating a guy, but at the same time feeling a call to religious life, but she had been dating this man for some time. Eventually in her prayer, she came to a point where she desired his holiness more than her desire to be in a relationship with this man. She was ready to step away from the relationship, if that were the will of God, willing to let go of what she desired, willing to let go of what she wanted because she wanted her life be totally the Lord's. She is now married to this man. But the point is that she was in love with the Lord, so much that she was willing to set aside her own wants and desires to fulfill the will of God.

So I was thinking about all of this and a quote from somewhere came to mind so I used my good friend google, I didn't find exactly what I was looking for... well I'm still looking for it, turns our encyclicals are really long! But I came across this quote "All people feel the interior impulse to love authentically: love and truth never abandon them completely, because these are the vocation planted by God in the heart and mind of every human person." Pope Benedict XVI Caritas in veritate

Our vocation is to love. Within every person there is a desire to love and be loved in return, authentically. This is the vocation of the human person: to love. It simply manifests itself in different ways and this is how we have the various different vocations and walks of life. Each of us is made uniquely different, to love and be loved in a particular and unique way. Praise God. 

So jump back to the boy that has caused turmoil in my life. As much as I still want this person in my life, and for some reason unknown to me, desire to be friends with him, to love him as the son of God that he is, despite what I may want - I should desire his holiness and growth more than a relationship with him - for that is true love - to desire their growth in holiness, in the perfection of charity more than anything else. 

Love, true love, is being immersed in the love of God and more than anything, desiring the person to grow in holiness, to grow closer to God, to grow in the perfection of charity. Love, true love, is being so immersed in the love of God that He completes you, and satisfies your every need. You need nothing else, other than the love of God - and the people in your life simply help to draw you closer to Christ.