By Deacon Jerry Franzen Cathedral 3/10/24
2 Chronicles 36: 14-16, 19-23 Ephesians 2:4-10 John 3: 14-21
Praised Be Jesus Christ. Good Morning!
When I have asked engaged couples in Marriage
Preparation,
if they love each other, they say that they do with an attitude of “Well, isn’t that a given?”
When I ask them what love means to them, they have trouble verbalizing just what love is.
The various ways we use the term “love” may lead to a confused idea of what love is.
I love raspberry chocolate chip ice cream.
I love being part of the Serra Club for vocations.
I love my therapist who helps me to be calm and
focused.
I love my wife. Do you see what I mean?
*One night a man decided to show his wife how much he
loved her.
After dinner he recited romantic poetry, telling her he would climb high mountains,
swim wide oceans, cross deserts in the burning heat of the day, and even sit at her window
and sing love songs to her in the moonlight, all just to be near her.
After listening to him try to describe his immense
love for her,
she ended the conversation when she asked, “But will you take out the trash for me?”
LOVE is is a
theme throughout the three readings of today.
his sinful
people so much that he sent prophets to them
early
and often, in an attempt to change them.
Eventually God became angry and let the Israelites’enemies
burn
the temple and take the survivors away as slaves.
After a long captivity, the Lord, who LOVED them so, inspired the pagan King Cyrus
to release the Israelites and to support the rebuilding of the temple.
In his letter to the Ephesians, Paul praised God because
of His love
for him,
Paul, and for his brothers and sisters in Ephesus.
It was this LOVE that raised them from the death of sin to life in Christ.
Paul says that grace, the result of God’s LOVE,
is the
means by which we can be seated with Him in heaven.
My definition of grace is: the freely – given gift
from God that,
with our
cooperation, can help us to become more like HIM.
AND the selection from the third chapter of John’s Gospel includes this famous verse 16:
“For God so LOVEd the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone
who believes in Him might not perish but might have eternal life.”
That verse has been described as the entire Bible in one
sentence.
Actually one can pick pretty much any reading from any Mass and relate it to God’s love for us.
II
**The earliest known written version of the New
Testament
was
written in Greek, not
English.
Ancient Greek had at least four different words
for which the English translation is the word
"love."
Each word expresses a different facet of the word “love.”
***1. Possibly the most basic word for love in Greek is "storge" [STORE-gay].
C.S Lewis describes it as “affection.” A hobby might be a good example.
“I just love growing house plants.” “I love to go fishing.”
2. The second Greek word for love is "philia" [FEEL-ee-yuh].
It describes a bond formed when two people share a common interest or ideal
– a friendship.
It is a bond based on a conscious decision to share one's interests with another person.
Someone might love the experience of a Prayer Group.
This word is used by Jesus at the Last Supper:
"I shall no longer call you servants, because a servant does not know
the master's business; I call you friends…..”
Now that they had learned much from Him, they shared
in His life.
We are to be friends of Jesus, to have a personal relationship with Him.
3. The third Greek word for love is "eros" [AIR-ohss].
This is an attraction that leads to the kind of passionate feeling
that
carries us away and fills us with intense emotions.
Two people become romantically involved and that carries over
to the physical love of husband and wife.
Jesus certainly loves us passionately.
He sweated blood in the garden of Gethsemane over His
love for us.
4. The fourth Greek word for love "agape" [ah-GAH-pay],
is used far more frequently in the Bible,
than the other three.
This is the love that focuses on doing good for others, serving them no matter
how I feel about them or what I might get in return.
This is self-giving love, the essential love of Jesus, not because doing so
filled him with ecstasy, but because He wanted to save us.
He wanted to restore hope to our sinful hearts
and lead us back from our sinful exile into His Father's house.
“Agape” is the
word used in today's Gospel: ”God
so loved the……”
It is also the word used when Jesus gives his New Commandment at the Last
Supper:
"Love
one another as I have loved you.”
When St. John in his First Letter writes, "God is love," “agape” is the word used.
God is completely focused on our good, happiness and fulfillment.
That's why he created us: not for his happiness, but for ours.
That's why he forgives us as often as we need to be forgiven.
That's why he feeds us with the Body and Blood of His Son.
That's why he carries our crosses with us, never leaving us to suffer alone.
And since we were created in God's image, we will find the fulfillment
that we yearn for as we gradually learn to love in this same Christ-like way.
This is the type of love that is essential in a
married couple.
God’s love for us is all of these aspects of love;
it is affectionate, friendly, passionate and sacrificial.
And our love for Him and others must be the same.
On Feb. 21, 2018, one of the great preachers of our day, possibly the greatest,
was invited by God to sit next to Him.
I certainly hope that Rev. Billy Graham is
now with Jesus
who
loved him so much that he gave His life for him.
When Rev. Graham’s body lay in state in the Capitol rotunda, President Trump
said that in essence Rev. Gram’s sermons could all be summarized as “God loves you!”
Bishop Foys, near the end of his homily
at Confirmation,
often
said to those who were to be confirmed,
“If you remember only one thing from what I have said, remember that God loves you.”
That love for each of us is affectionate; we are His adopted children
That love is friendly; He sent His Son
to live among us
That love is passionate; throughout all of salvation history He has persistently
provided His children with a path to
salvation.
Certainly God’s love has been sacrificial; He gave us His Son who suffered, died
and rose from the dead for our salvation.
In the three previous weeks of our Lenten penance, we have been,
first, reminded of our need to seek the solace of the desert to consider our sinfulnesss,
second, reminded of how God wanted to wipe out sin with a great flood,
and then, last Sunday, reminded us of the ways of our sin in the Ten Commandments.
That all may have seemed like a lot of bad news; in a
way, it is.
Today we are reminded that it is precisely because of those sins and our selfishness
that Christ came to earth to save us.
And that is certainly the Good
News.
This Sunday is called "Laetare Sunday," the Lent Sunday of Rejoicing.
(That's the reason we wear festive rose-colored vestments today.)
Today as Jesus renews his unconditional love for us in this holy Mass,
and especially as we receive him in Holy Communion, we must be “Eucharist”
and thank him for His love.
May we cooperate with God’s grace not only to experience his love, but to share
that “agape” with others, especially those who are still living in darkness.
This week, may our active, Christ-like love be like a sunrise in the hearts of others,
giving them hope and drawing them towards the saving fountain God's grace.
*Story taken from “1001 More Humorous Illustrations for Public Speaking”
by Michael Hodgin #789, p 277 Zondervan Pub. House,Grand Rapids MI 1998
***The division used in this homily is drawn
from C.S. Lewis's "The Four Loves" and the first part of Pope
Benedict's Encyclical Letter, "Deus caritas est."
