Jesus,
in
that statement, is calling us to real love, love that is
sustainable in the real world. And what is this kind of love? What is
the key
and the foundation of real love? Faithfulness. Henri Nouwen tells us
that one
of the most important qualities of God’s love is faithfulness. In the
same way,
one of the most important qualities of our love for one another and for
God is
faithfulness. We see that in marriage, in our vows to be faithful to
one another
and in our vowed communities. God has chosen to be faithful so that we
know
God’s love for us is real and concrete. God has demonstrated this time
and time
again as recorded in the Hebrew scriptures and in the act of becoming
God with
us in the person of Jesus. We demonstrate this to one another by our
actions
and following through on our promises. This is where Jesus’
commandments come
in - keeping His commandments is faithfulness and hence a most
important
quality of our love. To quote from Jesus, “Whoever has my commandments
and
observes them is the one who loves me.”
In order for us to follow through on and to have the
strength of
will to observe Jesus commandments, we need a font, a source to
drink
from. And this is just what Jesus provides to us, Jesus gives us the
source,
Himself. That is, it is us, His disciples gathered together in His name
that becomes
the font. This is the assembly of believers, ecclesia
in Greek which is translated as church in English. The
church is the sacrament of the presence of Jesus among us. This is the
way,
Jesus tells us, that we receive God’s love as something tangible and
real. So
to be separated from the assembly is to miss the main channel for God’s
love
for us and we are diminished. This is illustrated by the following
story:
A
pastor in
a country parish heard that one of his parishioners
was going about announcing that he would no longer go to mass. He
advanced the
familiar argument that he could communicate just as effectively with
God out in
the fields with the natural setting as his place of worship. One winter
evening
the pastor called on this reluctant member of his flock for a friendly
visit.
The two men sat before the fireplace making small talk, but studiously
avoiding
the issue of church attendance. After some time, the pastor took the
tongs from
the rack next to the fireplace and pulled a single coal from the fire.
He
placed the glowing ember on the hearth. The two men watched as the coal
quickly
ceased burning and turned an ashen gray, while the other coals in the
fire
continued to burn brightly. The pastor remained silent. “I’ll be at
mass next
Sunday” said the parishioner.
We do need one another to keep burning. We are human beings,
creatures of God who have body and soul. In order to be fully alive, we
need
each other. Needing each other we form relationships which we hope will
nurture
our soul. If, however, we base our relationship on the hope that the
other will
fulfill us, will take away our loneliness, we are soon disappointed.
That’s
because we are under the illusion that our relationships are human made
- the
only thing we need is the other person and together, we can make it
work. We see
this approach fail so often, even in marriage.
Here’s
what
we need to remember.
The source of the love that sustains our relationships is not the
partners
themselves, but God who calls the partners together. God is the source
of our
love as individuals and as community. And just as God made us human
with body
and soul, God forms for us a community with body and soul. This
community is
the church whose body is the individuals who are the members and the
soul is
the holy spirit.
The love between members of this community is meant to be a
sign
of God’s love for humanity as a whole and each person in particular. In
the
sacrament of marriage the relationship of a man and a woman looks like
two
hands that come together in an act of prayer. The fingertips touch but
the
hands can create a space, like a little tent. This is the new space
where God’s
love can be revealed to the child, the friend, the visitor. In the same
way, a
church building is our tent, our space where God’s love is revealed to
the
stranger, to the sick, to the needy.
This brings us back to faithfulness as a part of the picture
that
Jesus conveys to us. Remember, faithfulness is the most important
quality of
God’s love. Faithfulness, on our part, means that every decision we
make in our
lives together, is guided by the deep awareness that we are called to
be living
signs of God’s faithful presence among us. This is the main ingredient
of real
love, this is the main ingredient of church. This love is active in us
both in
our marriages and in our assembly. St. Therese of the Child Jesus sums
this up
saying: “I understand that if the church has a body composed of
different
members, the most necessary and noble of all could not be lacking to
it, and so
I understand that the church has a heart and that this heart is burning
with
love. I understand that it is love alone that makes the church’s
members act,
that if love were ever extinguished, apostles would not proclaim the
gospel and
martyrs would refuse to shed their blood.”