To know that we are loved seems to be the most precious and important realization that we can possibly have as we journey through life. So many of us have not experienced life in a way that has allowed this realization to be evident. Though there are exceptions when we may feel the Love of God – that is God – in a seemingly pure and direct experience, the way that we experience God’s Love is through our interaction with one another. That is a wonderful privilege that carries a terribly awesome responsibility.
In today’s scripture celebrating the feast of John the Apostle and Evangelist, John addresses his epistle with the word BELOVED http://www.usccb.org/bible/readings/122716.cfm.
John is referred to as the “Beloved Disciple.” Was that because he was loved by Christ more than the other disciples? Of course not! Perhaps the reference signifies the awareness that the apostle had of how loved he was by Christ and God. We are all loved by God in such a powerful and unique way. That is part of the mysteriousness of God’s unfathomable Love for each of us and all of us!
We are all the Beloved! This is not an insular relationship of love, but rather one that requires our constant attention and participation. This participation is, yes, a commitment to prayer AND an engaging interaction with each other that ensures that we all experience this shared heritage.
To Be Loved means to receive with great gratitude the tremendous gift. That means that as the “beloved” we must Be Loved through Love-ing! The moment we try to hold onto it we are in fact refusing to receive it ourselves. Like a destructive dam, it attempts to thwart a Mighty Flow that cannot be stopped. We drown in an ego-version of love that quickly reveals itself in exclusion, overprotection, violence and hatred.
As the Beloved, it becomes our responsibility to share the experience of this Gift with all of us who are broken down and enslaved by these false ego-driven “loves” that separate us from each other. And here is the twist – that’s all of us. We are all broken! We realize, embrace and share the love by honestly engaging with each other in reverence and challenge. As John says:
“What was from the beginning, what we have heard, what we have seen with our eyes, what we looked upon and touched with our hands…”
No one has the upper hand in Gods love, but we try to compartmentalize and classify it in worthiness games that exclude others through contrived moralities, sexism, racism, religious bigotry, etc. We can only Be Loved when we reach out and touch each other AND allow others to touch us. It’s that Holy Spirit of Divine openness that can aid us in taking full advantage of God’s Love for All and Everything. This can be seen when the rich and “powerful” begin to listen to the beautiful voices from the “margins” of conceived worlds – when the disenfranchised “poor” sing the song of Gods love so that the rich “poor” can hear and respond in ways that engender and celebrate the Life of God for all!
This takes a lot of courageous surrender and vulnerability – like running into the empty tomb as John did and believing (http://www.usccb.org/bible/john/20:1)!
The Beloved is always the vulnerable crib in a stable that cradles the always possible New Life that can only grow through sharing. It is the empty tomb that can only be filled by receiving through giving – Being Loved! This is another part of the Christmas story.
Thomas