A few weeks ago, I attended the JPII Life Center Gala and listened to an inspirational speech from Retired Major General Patrick Brady, the recipient of the Medal of Honor. In his speech, he said that “sacrifice is love in action.” When I think of love and sacrifice, I think of my parents who have been married for over 50 years. They risked everything when they left Vietnam to come to the United States in search of the American Dream for their family. I think of my wife, who has sacrificed much in our marriage to help me answer God’s call to serve his people as a deacon. I think of our siblings, who are married with children, and how much they sacrifice their time, talents, and treasures to love, care for, and support their children’s many needs.
This is the love and sacrifice that I try to convey to all couples who go through our CALLED TO BE ONE Marriage Class to prepare for a sacramental marriage. I try to convey to them that their love for each other is imperfect because, as much as they promise to love each other unconditionally, there is in their marriage unexpressed expectations. The only Person that loves unconditionally in their marriage is our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, who elevated the institution of marriage to a Sacrament, to be the visible sign of Jesus’ unconditional love for his Bride, the Church, that he died on the Cross for her salvation. . . our salvation.
And so, we turn to God to show us how to love as we ought because God is love (1 John 4:8). Saint John teaches us that “[we] love because he first loved us” (4:19-21). He encourages us to “love one another, because love is of God; everyone who loves is begotten by God and knows God. Whoever is without love does not know God, for God is love” (4:7-8). Then, in today’s Gospel, Jesus gives us the Greatest Commandment to teach us how we ought to love: "You shall love the Lord, your God, with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind. This is the greatest and the first commandment. The second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself." Our Lord says to us: “As the Father loves me, so I also love you. Remain in my love. If you keep my commandments, you will remain in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commandments and remain in his love. . . This is my commandment: love one another as I love you. No one has greater love than this, to lay down one’s life for one’s friends” (John 15:9-13).
How can we apply these teachings on love in our lives? Saint Paul urges us to live in a manner “worthy of the call you have received, with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another through love, striving to preserve the unity of the spirit through the bond of peace, one Body and one Spirit, as you were also called to the one hope of your call; one Lord, one faith, one baptism; one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all” (Ephesians 4:1-6). Through Baptism, “we become members of Christ, are incorporated into the Church and made sharers in her mission” (CCC 1213). “[We] are [God’s] handiwork, created in Christ Jesus for good works” (Ephesians 2:10).
One of the “good works” that we can do is our participation in the Catholic Services Appeals (CSA). “[Our] gift to the Catholic Services Appeal (CSA) supports men discerning vocations to the priesthood and diaconate, priests currently serving and retired priests. [Our] gift helps to sustain Catholic schools, religious education, ministerial formation and initiatives for life, peace and justice.” Saint John teaches us that “whoever does not love a brother whom he has seen cannot love God whom he has not seen” (1 John 4:19-21). The Catholic Services Appeals (CSA) is how we can love our brothers and sisters in the Diocese of Austin who we do not see by loving and serving Jesus who we see, experience, and receive every Sunday. This is one way we can put our faith in action and fulfill Jesus’ commandment to love God and love our neighbor. Sacrifice is love in action and, with our own sacrifice, we “fill up what is lacking in the afflictions of [Christ] on behalf of his body, which is the church” (Colossians 1:24).
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