If I Love You More

By: Rick Hernandez

“I will not be a burden, for I want not what is yours, but you. Children ought not to save for their parents, but parents for their children. I will most gladly spend and be utterly spent for your sakes. If I love you more, am I to be loved less?” (2 Corinthians 12:14-15)

We are all called to mission. Our lives here on earth do have a purpose. Like so many great Saints, a contemplative life is desired where we meditate in the goodness of God toward us, that we may grow ever thankful, but not to just stay immobile there, but to be recharged that we may go out into the world and live a saintly life of service. 

Just like Saint Peter Julian Eymard or Saint Teresa of Calcutta, who spent daily time in front of the Blessed Sacrament, we are called to contemplation, that we may be emboldened to live our thanksgiving through compassionate action toward our brothers in need.  We are called to be agents of justice, change, and peace. We are called to make the world a better place, one encounter at a time.
 
There is always a possibility that we see only our actions, what we accomplish, as the source of our comfort or the basis of our faith, which would be incorrect. What we do must not be the goal but the result of our relationship with Christ. From connecting to the source of our faith and receiving the grace gifted to us through our relationship with Christ, we can perform the actions of love and mercy with the most ordered and correct intent. We must not forget where our charity, faith, and hope come from. Saint Peter Julian Eymard had it right when he founded his order to be contemplative and apostolic.

​We receive much from our relationship with Christ so that we may share of our plentiful bounty with those who need us. In the correct and ordered way, from our relationship with Christ, we are able to love more, for we are definitively not loved any less. We are not diminished but enhanced. God does that for us. He holds us lovingly in His hand.

“The Kingdom of Heaven is at hand…, without cost you have received; without cost, you are to give… As you enter a house, wish it peace. If the house is worthy, let your peace come upon it; if not, let your peace return to you” (Mt 10:7-8,11-12). 

Without cost, we are receiving. From Christ’s banquet, we are fed, and there in His presence, we are nourished and looked after. Our presence united with His allows us to commune with the infinite and peek into God’s mysteries. There He shares with us Grace, a gift to take with us if we accept it. In our acceptance of His gift, we become His to guide and command. This is how we become His instruments of grace to the world.

When we are sent, it is not always the same way. Some of us are sent to nourish the domestic Church and raise families in love, hope, and faith. Some of us are sent to sit by the tabernacles of the world in faithful adoration, sentinels of the light of Christ. Some are sent to the streets to care for the indigents and the lost. Some are sent to hospitals and homes to care for the sick and the infirm... We are all sent into service as Marthas from the love we receive as Marys. One is not more important than the other. Our higher calling is to do both...
 
As we look into our lives in the light of Jesus’s call to service, let us always remember what Saint Paul said, “I will most gladly spend and be utterly spent for your sakes. If I love you more, am I to be loved less?”
 
Let us pray: Lord, let us be in Your presence that we may look into your heart. Take our hearts and make them one with yours, that our love may be as your love, and that as we all go through this earthly life, we may be able to share your heart with all we encounter. Help us so that we may love more. Amen.

Rick Hernandez

Rick Hernandez is a commonsense Catholic, Lay Associate of the Blessed Sacrament and a Director for Elisheba House. He lives in Trinity, Florida, with his wife Ivonne and their children. He also writes for the Congregation of the Blessed Sacrament's Daily Eucharistic Reflections and for Catholicmom.com.