Love That Is Beyond All Telling
“Think of what is above, not of what is on earth.” (Colossians 3:2)
In our religious education classes every Sunday, I would usually greet our children and parents upon entering the classrooms. Once inside, I would sit in some of the classes to interact with our students. One day, I was sitting next to one of the students in our pre-communion class. After answering correctly, the teacher would give the students a sticker. This time, after correctly answering, this student chose a heart-shaped sticker. He wondered where he could place the sticker in his book as he received it. He searched and flipped the pages repeatedly until he found the perfect place: Jesus on the cross. As I watched this, I thought, “Surely, he will put the heart sticker on the chest of Jesus.” Well, I was wrong. This student put it right on the face of Jesus, covering His face with the heart sticker!
My friends, this is what Easter is all about: God showing His true heart. And, as this kindergartener showed me, His face and His whole being radiate love for all of us. The mystery of Easter is that God died to show that He loves us. He is also risen to show that He loves us. All that God wants to show is that He loves you!
The beautiful hymn that is sung on Easter Vigil, the Exultet, has a powerful line: “O wonder of your humble care for us! O love, O charity beyond all telling, to ransom a slave you gave away your Son!” How wonderful it is that He cares. We are sinners, and we all have nailed Jesus on the cross. Yet, Jesus prays and commands, through His authority as a Son of the Father: “Father, forgive them for they know not what they do.” God the Father hears the loud cry of His son as Jesus dies on the cross out of love. What love! What charity that is way beyond our understanding! He died for all of us to show us what true love is and what it does!
Another line from the Exultet captures what God shares with us: “O truly blessed night, when things of heaven are wed to those of earth, and divine to the human.” This highlights that God does indeed share His divine way of love with all of us. Yes, we are so unworthy, yet He shares and gives nonetheless. Through the death and resurrection of Jesus, the heavenly way of life is now abundantly available to us. Our way of seeing things has now changed. No longer do we see things from our worldly point of view, but thanks to Jesus, we now love how He loves, our hearts beat as His beat, we smile as He smiles, our senses transformed into His senses, and our souls in harmony with His.
So, may this Easter season be the start of a new way of living for us. As Jesus showed us how to love, so may you receive this new vision and share that same love with those you interact with, as you cover your whole face and being with the heart of God!
-Br. Miggo
