Love Love Love

With Valentine's day just around the corner, literally...tomorrow, this is a fitting post, but not what inspired me. Recently the virtue of charity has been frequenting my prayer. It started when I went to confession in January and the priest explained some things, and how this particular sin I was struggling with is an example of selfish love, and he explained how charity is kind of like the virtue of all virtues. Two weeks later I went to confession again, and again charity got mentioned. I'd been thinking a lot about love, and what that means and what that looks like, but I apparently needed to take it deeper still. Finally, in prayer time I decided to pull out my catechism - what does the catechism teach on charity? well I'm glad you asked because there's a boat load... Here are my findings from the catechism:

• "Charity is superior to all virtues. (1826)
• The practice of all virtues is animated and inspired by charity, which binds everything together in perfect harmony...charity upholds and purifies our human ability to love, and raises it to the supernatural perfection of Divine Love(1827). 
• The practice of charity gives the Christian the spiritual freedom of the children of God. 
• fruits of charity - peace, joy, and mercy
• Love is itself the fulfillment of all our works. There is the goal; that is why we run: we run towards it, and once we reach it, in it we find rest. St. Augustine
• Charity is the soul of the holiness to which we are all called
• Love, in fact, is the vocation which includes all others; it's a universe of its own, comprising all space, and time- it's eternal., St. Therese
• Love is the source of prayer, whoever draws from it reaches the summit of prayer 
• The way of perfection passes by way of the cross. There is no holiness without renunciation and spiritual battle. 

The practice of all virtues is animated and inspired by charity, which binds everything together in perfect harmony...charity upholds and purifies our human ability to love, and raises it to the supernatural perfection of Divine Love

Charity - the virtue of all virtue.. 

Today, I went for a run. There's this park near my house that has a really nice trail that I love to run on. Today when I got there, the sheriff department was there with a team doing something on the ice of the pond that's there. I have no idea what they were doing. I never stopped to ask. I just went for my run. But I'm a curious person, so I wondered why they were there and created this ridiculous scenario in my head. I recently heard a talk, given by a couple, and the woman said something about woman's brains taking one thing and running with it.. very far.. and every woman in the room laughed and nodded their heads.. I think the men were stumped by the statement. So the scenario I came up with - I decided they were searching for a body of a person who had gone missing, and they got a tip that someone spotted a person in this pond. So then I decided the person is found.. and they perform CPR bringing this person to life. Then I imagine a news crew there asking me what I thought about this situation and so basically I had a chance to speak my mind, so I began to think about what I would say. I decided that I would say the situation made me sad... whether the person ended up there by murder, or suicide it would make me sad. There is such a lack of love in this world that if this person was committing suicide it would make me sad because that means they felt unnoticed, and unwanted in this world. If it was murder it would make me sad because the person who did it probably had a really hard life, and never knew they were cherished.. 

So basically, this all boils down to love. If I had one message that I could send out to the world it would be one of love. We all need to make an effort to love each other, to encourage each other. To be selfless, and give of ourselves - to be gifts to those around us. Scripture tells us to love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, all your mind, and all your strength. And love your neighbor as yourself (Lk 10:27). 

In Philippians it says: do nothing out of selfishness or vainglory; rather, humbly regard others as more important than yourselves. 

That gets me every time - humbly regard others as more important than yourselves. In  a world that promotes success, and success measured by money and accomplishment it is mighty hard to put others before yourself. 

I'm in nursing school. I chose nursing because of many reasons. I felt called there, I felt peace with that choice, and my dad approved of this education choice... but most of all it was because I knew I wanted to spend my life serving other people, and what better way to do that than as a nurse. My job is to put people before myself, to care for them, to love them...as they are; which is often at their worst.. 

Through the Catechism, through scripture, through my own experiences I have learned love is the most powerful of all virtues, and I just want to encourage each of us to look to the Lord for love, for he loves us more than our minds can fathom, and to strive to love each person we encounter with all that we have all that we are because all that we have and all that we are is from Christ. It is in him that we find our home. 

God bless! 

Peace and love in Christ!