Love Beyond Measure

Celebrate the feast of Christmas every day, even every moment in the interior temple of your spirit, remaining like a baby in the bosom of the heavenly Father, where you will be reborn each moment in the Divine Word, Jesus Christ.

~ Saint Paul of the Cross

All acts of love require a sublimation of the will. Sometimes it is easy: the baby cries and the mother picks her up, holds her, and offers food or comfort. Sometimes it is not: climbing the stairs one more time at the end of the day without gritting my teeth can be a challenge, even if it is because I didn’t get to kiss them good night. What I have to do to save souls may mean climbing the stairs, washing the dishes, or running the extra errand. It doesn’t feel like love or the means by which a soul is saved, except if we consider that perhaps the soul being rescued from sloth or indifference is our own.

Family life requires daily sublimation of the soul for the good of others, and it frequently includes tedium like folding socks, plunging toilets, and redoing work done yesterday. If it is not done for love’s sake, the person doing it will become bitter, feel used, and grow resentment where love should be. 

Preparing for Christmas can feel like one long to-do list if we forget the reason why the gifts, celebrations, cards, decorations, and music exist. 

Love makes sacrifice possible. Perfect love makes it a joy. 

Lord, let me be an instrument of love beyond measure during this crazy holiday time.

To Ponder: In Jesus, God humbled himself to become a helpless child. That is the reason for Christmas. Mary’s obedience, her fiat, is also a gift to us of untold beauty and a reminder that all we do for others, we do for Christ. Therefore whatever we do should be done out of love.
~ Sherry Antonetti

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