June 07 Kandili Article
ALL YOU NEED IS LOVE
If one stops for a moment to consider all of the songs written throughout the ages, without a doubt, a significant percentage would deal with love. One of my favorite Beatle’s song was “All You Need is Love”. In fact, the music and lyrics are going through my head at this very moment. And then there was the song from the musical “Carnival” that I participated in as a high school senior entitled “Love Makes the World go ‘Round”. Each of these songs conjure up romantic feelings of finding that special “someone” to share love and even life with.
If one considers the Gospels of our Lord another love verse or two immediately comes to mind. “God so loved the world that He gave His only-begotten Son so that whoever believes in Him should not perish, but have life everlasting.” (John 3:16). “…You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind. This is the great and first commandment. And a second is like it, You shall love your neighbor as yourself. On these two commandments depend all the law and the prophets.” (Matthew 22:37-40). Now the “love” in the songs above is romantic or erotic love, while the love in the biblical references is “agape” or unconditional love. All that you or I do need is this love and it is this love that does indeed “make the world go ‘round”. Agape love begins with God and comes to us, then from us to Him and then to one another.
On Sunday, June 17, we celebrate Father’s Day. Why don’t we use it as an opportunity to accept our Father in Heaven’s love for us, love Him and one another with all our heart. Let’s also thank our natural fathers for their great love for us and endeavor to love them and one another with the Divine Agape love. Allow me to share the following parable entitled “The Perfect Heart” with you.“One day a young man was standing in the middle of the town proclaiming that he had the most beautiful heart in the whole valley. A large crowd gathered and they all admired his heart for it was perfect. There was not a mark or a flaw in it. Yes, they all agreed it truly was the most beautiful heart they had ever seen. The young man was very proud and boasted more loudly about his beautiful heart.
Suddenly, an old man appeared at the front of the crowd and said “Why your heart is not nearly as beautiful as mine.” The crowd and the young man looked at the old man’s heart. It was beating strongly, but full of scars, it had places where pieces had been removed and other pieces put in, but they didn’t fit quite right and there were several jagged edges. In fact, in some places there were deep gouges where whole pieces were missing.
The people stared – how can he say his heart is more beautiful, they thought? The young man looked at the old man’s heart and saw its state and laughed. “You must be joking,” he said. “Compare your heart with mine, mine is perfect and yours is a mess of scars and tears.” “Yes,” said the old man, “Yours is perfect looking but I would never trade with you. You see, every scar represents a person to whom I have given my love – I tear out a piece of my heart and give it to them, and often they give me a piece of their heart which fits into the empty place in my heart, but because the pieces aren’t exact, I have some rough edges, which I cherish, because they remind me of the love we shared. Sometimes I have given pieces of my heart away, and the other person hasn’t returned a piece of his heart to me. These are the empty gouges—giving love is taking a chance.
Although these gouges are painful, they stay open, reminding me of the love I have for these people too, and I hope someday they may return and fill the space I have waiting. So now do you see what true beauty is?” The young man stood silently with tears running down his cheeks. He walked up to the old man, reached into his perfect young and beautiful heart, and ripped a piece out. He offered it to the old man with trembling hands. The old man took his offering, placed it in his heart and then took a piece from his old scarred heart and placed it in the wound in the young man’s heart. It fit, but not perfectly, as there were some jagged edges. The young man looked at his heart, not perfect anymore but more beautiful than ever, since love from the old man’s heart flowed into his. They embraced and walked away side by side. How sad it must be to go through life with a whole untouched heart. “
Let’s pass on “love” by offering a piece of our heart.
With our Lord’s blessings,
Fr. Lou