LOVE ONE ANOTHER

   (From Mark 22:28-34:  "Which is the first of all the commandments?  Jesus replied, "You shall love the Lord, your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind and with all your strength.  The second is this, "You shall love your neighbor as yourself."

     The second commandment can sound like an impossible one to obey and live by.  How can we love terrorists and those who would destroy us?  How can we love those who disagree with us in today's rancid political atmosphere?  How can we love anyone who would harm us or our society in any way?

     I suggest that the answer to these questions lies in the meaning of "love."  We usually think of love as the beautiful, sentimental affection for someone one.  We want to be with those we love.

      Love can be love of friendship, or sexual love, or love for the sake of the other.  This last kind of love is agape.  Another word for agape is charity, i.e., love that goes beyond affection to the point of our freely sacrificing something of ourselves for the other.  This, for example, is the love of husband and wife, of parents for their children, and even of soldiers in battle who risk and sometimes love their lives for one another.  It is the love of Jesus on the Cross.

      Christianity is not naive.  We don't have to like someone in order to love them.  We can hardly be expected to like those who would harm or even destroy us.  Agape is not naivety, it is spiritual maturity.  It extends to all those who would harm or destroy us and moves us to work to get through to such people so that they can live at peace with themselves and with us.  We must of course protect ourselves against those who would harm us.  That may even call for defensive military action after all peaceful means have been exhausted.  

      It is normal and healthy to get angry at the injuries and injustices being inflicted upon us by the leaders of our society, be they political, educational, corporate, etc.  Such harm to all of us definitely calls for political action.  Likewise it calls for well informed action when our school do not educate our children properly.  And it calls for social action when our culture is attacked and made more crude and even violent. 

      In all cases, it calls for action that is informed and inspired by the Spirit of Christ, the Spirit of creative, healing and world-transforming love.  It is not enough to say what is wrong.  In Christ we must learn and proclaim what is right and then use all the peaceful and just means available to us as citizens and voters to change what is wrong into what is right in the service of the common good.




  

A CHRISTMAS BALLAD

A CHRISTMAS BALLAD

                                                                     by 

                                                       Anthony T. Massimini                                                                                                                          (1954)   

Across the moonlit desert sands

   The mission bells were ringing.

'Twas Christmas Eve and in the night,

   Three happy men were singing.

In coming home from Prairie Town

   They'd seen the Christmas Fair,

And luckily, these cowboys three

   Had won some prizes there.

The first one had a cuckoo clock

   With features quite bizarre;

The second had a pretty doll;

   The third, a green guitar.

Between their carols as they rode

   they spoke of the delight

The prizes that they each had won

   would bring their folks that night.

Then, in the sky they saw a star,

   Its darkness rose and fell;

'Twas the electric emblem

   of the Texas Star Motel.

"Let's stop a while," one cowboy said,

   "We've time and home is near,

Let's join the travelers at the inn

   and drink the season's cheer."

The other two they quick agreed,

   The inn was not too far.

So each one turned his sturdy steed

   and started for the star.

Now at the in, the atmosphere

   was extra warm and bright,

For many people, traveling home,

   had stopped there for the night.

The overjoyed proprietor

   was counting each receipt;

His inn was full, his wine well stocked,

   his happiness, complete.

When through the din a quiet knock

   was heard upon the door.

"Too bad," thought the proprietor,

   "I haven't room for more."   

The door came slowly open;

  A Mexican stepped in;

Behind him softly came his wife;

   Her face was dark and thin.

"Please, Mister," said the Mexican,

  "My wife, she very sick;

Please give her some warm place to stay.

   And get a doctor, quick!"

"Hold on!" said the proprietor,

  "I can't do that for you!"

But then he looked again and said,

   "I'll see what I can do."

"Maria," said the Mexican,

   "Have courage, dear, and pray."

Maria smiled, then bowed her head

  and answered, "Yes, Jose'."

Then back came the proprietor,

   and slowly shook his head,

"The only place to stay," said he,

   "Is outside in the shed."

"God bless you!"  said he Mexican.

   And then the lonely pair

Withdrew to find their resting place

   out in the desert air.

Now by this time, the cowboys three

   were nearing the motel;

Their caroling still rent the air,

    and all was going well.

And as they passed an open shed

   that stood beside a hill,

They saw a light and turned to look;

   The sight there stopped them still.

A man was kneeling down in prayer,

    A woman knelt close by;

And from some hay between the two,

   there came a baby's cry!

The cowboys three, they went to see

    this fascinating sight,

And they remembered vividly 

   that other Holy Night

When Wise Men three came bearing gifts

   across a desert far,

And how they found the Holy Child

   by following a star.

Now they too wished to give some gifts

   to this poor couple's son;    

They wondered what; and then

   they spied the prizes they had won.

The first one gave his cuckoo clock,

   with features quite bizarre;

The second gave his pretty doll;

   The third, his green guitar.

Across the midnight desert sands,

   The mission bells were ringing;
'Twas Christmas eve, and in the night,

   Three happy men were singing.