Love Overcomes All

When we go to Rome, we often get wowed and captivated by grand ancient artifacts and remains of a great empire. We often asked how can people built such great buildings that lasted thousands of years while our current technologies cannot produce anything that would last that long! First of all, we often forget that they did not have to rush to meet deadlines like us, and they built things to last with enslaved and cheap laborers. Also, it was possible because they do not have the on-the-move concept of time like us; therefore, things can be slow, steady, and sturdy.

Nevertheless, the most obvious fact is often overlooked.. that the great empire that built many of those buildings is no longer in existence, as well as many rulers and empires that followed it, but the Church remains. As a matter of fact, not only in Italy or Europe, but around the world, too, the Church has outlived all of these man-made empires and rulers, even at times when they tried to oppress, persecute, curb, or diminish her existence. In the midst of many trials and hardships, the Bridesmaid of Christ continues to exist around the world because she still has the mission to love and serve, to preach and evangelize, to care and to protect, even when it hurts.

Not all parts of the Church are thriving though. There are parts that actually dying, especially ones that have been more focused on protecting their established institutionalized models and assets or are too worried about being relevant and popular with the general populace and secularized world. Those places are dying because the faithful have lost their interest in the faith. They have become too distracted, worried, and preoccupied with the matters of this world, or too comfortable in their establishments that they have lost their zeals for the truth and mission given to them by the Lord to preach the Gospel. When the faithful are too comfortable, do not want to be challenged, lack the desire to deepen their spiritual life, seek holiness, and are willing to give themselves in the service of their neighbors, they close themselves off to the very vocation, identity, and purpose of who they are as Christians. When the faithful only choose to do what is convenient and comfortable for them, they remain in their own little world, egocentric kingdom, and comfort zone instead of desiring holiness, the sanctification of the world, and the true mission given to us by the Lord.

To be like Christ is to choose to be faithful and to love even when it hurts! Love is not just a sentimentally or emotionally attached decision, it is oftentimes a willful, personal, intimate, and persevering decision that is very hard at times. We need to remember that our Lord taught us how to love with His very own examples, how He chose to love even when it was hard and painful for Him, too. As fully divine and human in both natures, Jesus underwent and experienced everything as we would have, felt pains, and suffered like us; as a matter of fact, He lived like us in all things but sin.

Sometimes people tend to think that He had it easy because He is divine. They tend to think that He never struggled because He is God. They thought that He was never tempted or felt things like us because He is the Son of God. Yet, we often forget that He is fully divine and human, so He felt everything that we would have throughout His life here on earth. He could have chosen otherwise, but He did choose to live like us in all things but sin! Our Savior and Redeemer, in His very humanity, can personally and humanly sympathize with us and our very own struggles.

We, indeed, have God who truly knows and understands what it means to suffer, be in pain, and be filled with anguish. He chose to be like us in all things but sin as an invitation for us to be able to relate, open up, and understand His true personal love for us. It boggles our minds and escapes our typical human comprehension or behavior. If we would be in His place, we would definitely not choose to stoop down, endure, or be willing to embrace sufferings, denials, betrayals, rejections, pains, and despises. These things hurt us physically, emotionally, and spiritually. No one in their “right” humanistic mind would have ever chosen this path or sought these things… it could only be imagined and thought by the infinite, loving God. He did not have to, but He chose to because He loves us!

Therefore, to be like Christ is to choose to love, even if it could open us up to the possibilities of pains and sufferings, misunderstandings and hurts. He taught us with His very own life what it takes to love even when it hurts! As His disciples, we are called to accept and embrace all things for the sake of love. Even though no one in their right mind will look for these things, we should not despair or reject the opportunities when they present themselves to us. We are not crazy or fanatical people who go out of our way to choose to suffer and bear pains, but we should not reject the call to holiness in choosing to love all things and people, even when it is hard to do so.

Unlike the typical catchphrase and trigger-word culture where we have boiled down the meaning of love and equated it with like, it does take a lot of effort to truly love, will, desire, and want to love someone. While it might be easy to like someone who is like-minded or does not create any obstacle for us, it is actually very hard to will to love those who are around us, especially those who do not share the same values, perspectives, worldviews, ideologies, or like-mindedness thoughts like us. Christ chose to love those who hated Him. Even though He knew how much it was going to hurt to be betrayed, rejected, abandoned, and ignored by His own people, He was willing to embrace all of them for the love of us.

We can see our Lord struggling to embrace such possibilities in His humanity, too! There were times that He asked His Heavenly Father to take away the cup; but in all things, He ended His prayers with self-giving trust and abandonment so that His Father may be gloried and His will be done. Our Savior knew the expensive and unimaginable price of love, and all the pains and sufferings that He had to endure for the sake of this sacrificial, personal, intimate, and self-giving love that comes from His very own heart for us. He taught us not to walk away when it gets hard, knowing the potential challenges and rejections that could happen, the high chances of betrayal and abandonment that are there, and the anguishes that His personal, loving, and sacrificial decision could bring. Jesus, in His very own life, how He treated people, and what He did on the Cross, shows us in a very real and intimate way that we are loved by God, hence setting forth that personal example for His very own disciples and followers to follow as well.

None of us would like to be hurt and to suffer for love, but we should not look at the failures of others or what has been done by others as a punishment from God. We have all fallen short, and failed to love others, too, so it is important not to give into despair when trials and hardships come! I know it is not popular for us to preach this type of message in such a convenient, gratifying, beneficial, and pleasure-oriented world. Nonetheless, at the end of the day, words remain words unless each and every one of us chooses to love personally. We have talked much about tolerance, acceptance, and love, but they just remain words since we only treat them as feel-good triggers and empty slogans instead of genuinely trying to live out what we have preached and be committed to what we truly believe.

Perhaps at those times when we find it hard to love those who have failed or hurt in a particular way, we just have to choose to abide and allow His grace to be with us when it seems so hard to will and choose to love by ourselves. Perhaps at times when it hurts the most, when we are not at peace because someone really meant ill will against us, or when we have been rejected, betrayed, forgotten, or abandoned by others to simply say: “Lord, I don’t know what’s going on. It just hurts so much! I don’t think I can go on… but I choose you! Help me to love you and to love like you, Lord.”

Perhaps there will be no perfect answer but He will give us the necessary strength to embrace the challenges, trials, and hardships. Even when we seemed to be all alone, cannot put into words what our hearts are feeling or going through, or have nothing else to give, He is there and understands what it means and what it truly takes to love when the obvious human option seems easier. Hence, in choosing to love like Him, we get to taste the real life-giving love that He chose when it seemed to make no sense for Him, too. Even though it is hard, the only way that He can ever show us and we can ever be more like Him is to choose to love — even when it hurts — for true love will overcome all things in due time.

Empires came and went, civilizations rose and fell, rulers come and go, and revolutions made their short-lived marks and left people empty as soon as they served their underlying social or political purposes. Popular ideologies were bought, hyped, and followed but left no real impact, but all those humanistic things never made any real personal and life-giving transformations. What is real needs to be eternal, what is lasting needs to be transcendental, and what is tried and true has to be grounded in Him who is the Way, the Truth, and the Life. At the end of the day, we can only give life and overcome all things by trying our best to love as He loves. Even though it is hard, it is grace-filled because it allows us to truly be humans with tender loving hearts and children of God with selfless and faithful love. What is life-giving has to come from Him who gives us life, or else it will be like other humanistic matters that will come and go, exist for a short time but constantly changes with popularity. Without a doubt, only true love overcomes all because it reflects, imitates, radiates, and emulates the very love that God has for us.