Mother's Day and the real meaning of Love

Mother’s day celebrates more than just the fact that each of us has a mom. We honor the many sacrifices every mother makes for her family. Mom’s are a reminder that the nature of true love is sacrifice. A mother’s love enables her to sacrifice her body and blood for the life of her child, and to sacrifice sleep, comfort, and convenience for the safety and well being of her infant. True love is far more than just a romantic feeling or physical attraction, it is the willingness to make sacrifices on behalf of the beloved. This is the love that God has for us, and that He made accessible to us when He created us in His image. This is the love Jesus has for us in sacrificing Himself for us, not just once on Calvary, but for all eternity where, despite our sinfulness, He suffers and dies for each and every one of us.

The scripture readings for Mothers Day describe the true nature of love, making it clear that all love is of God:
"Beloved, let us love one another,
because love is of God;
everyone who loves is begotten by God and knows God.
Whoever is without love does not know God, for God is love.
In this way the love of God was revealed to us:
God sent his only Son into the world
so that we might have life through him.
In this is love:
not that we have loved God, but that he loved us
and sent his Son as expiation for our sins."
                                                                       1 John 4:7-10The Gospel contains Jesus’ clear command to us that we love one another in the same manner that He loves us:
"This is my commandment: love one another as I love you.
No one has greater love than this,
to lay down one's life for one's friends.
This I command you: Love one another."
                                                                          John 15:12,17As if to emphasize the point, the same gospel was read again today, the Monday after Mother’s Day. Jesus even tells us why He commands us to love one another in the same way that He loves us, "I have told you this so that my joy may be in you
and your joy might be complete.” This joy is the product of our decision love the way God loves, by making a gift of ourselves to those we love. This kind of love involves risk because it makes us vulnerable and it comes at a price. To love as God loves means setting aside our selfish desires and forfeiting the false freedom of our desires for the true freedom to love as God loves. Only when we tame our selfishness can we love as God loves, but this is counter-cultural. The secular world in which we live holds up personal freedom as the key to happiness and joy, not self-sacrifice. This is why marriage is considered disposable, as are inconvenient children, and many other “inconvenient truths.”

One of the reasons so many find pornography appealing is that it demands nothing from us, but promises the freedom to experience pleasure with no risks, no entanglements, no consequences. But the true consequence of such selfishness is that we diminish ourselves and our ability to establish deep and meaningful relationships because we fall victim to the lie that we deserve pleasure on demand with no risk, no self-sacrifice, no commitment. It is impossible to love another person when we are self-absorbed with our personal freedom, convenience, and pleasure. In the modern worldview, marriage is only a matter of convenience and self-fulfillment, and love is nothing more than a reaction to our desires. No wonder marriage is on the decline and birth rates so low.

As the Easter season winds down, we are called to ponder the mystery of Christ’s death and resurrection at many levels, including the very important example it holds for defining the real meaning of love. As St. John points out, “…love is of God. Whoever is without love is without God, for God is Love.”  If you want to know God, learn to love as He loves. In doing so, you are likely to discover that real joy is the result of authentic, self-giving love in which the sacrifices are outweighed by the joy that goes beyond all understanding.