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Manila Bulletin devider Opinion devider Self-serving or self-emptying love?

Self-serving or self-emptying love?

Published Jun 1, 2024 04:06 pm

THROUGH UNTRUE

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Before his conversion to the Catholic faith, the famous writer C.S. Lewis imagined God as someone with a limitless appetite to be loved, served, and worshipped. The Bible seems to validate this idea, like the text: “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind” (Luke 10:27). We are not even allowed to reserve a little love for our relatives. “Anyone who loves their father or mother more than me is not worthy of me; anyone who loves their son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me” (Matthew 10:37).


What if your parents told you that they wanted you to be born so you could love, serve, and worship them? You might think they are selfish and egocentric. They brought you into this world so they could use you. Their love is self-serving.


Thankfully, most parents do not fit that mold. They bring their children into this world because they feel joy in sharing their lives with them. They want someone to love, and if their children love them in return, well and good; if not, they still take pleasure in seeing their children happy. 


It is the same way with God. God’s love is not self-serving but self-emptying. It is the kind of love that motivates a parent to care for their children tirelessly, a friend to stand by another through hardships, or a kind person to help others without seeking recognition.It is a love motivated by empathy, understanding, and willingness to sacrifice.    


After his conversion, C.S. Lewis abandoned his view of God as selfish and egocentric. Through diligent study of the Bible, he discovered that God is love, and it is the nature of love to diffuse itself to others. Thus, His primary motives in creating us are boundless generosity and his intense desire to make us share in His glory. God commands us to love Him, not because He craves our attention, but because love has the power to transform us into His likeness. We become what we love.


Today, we celebrate “Corpus Christi,” the Solemn Feast of the Sacred Body and Blood of Jesus. We commemorate how God, through His Son Jesus Christ, demonstrated the extent of His self-emptying love for us. The bread and wine symbolize Jesus’ body broken and blood shed on the cross for our salvation. This sacrificial love is not just a historical event we remember; it is made present every time we celebrate the Holy Eucharist, inviting us to partake in the divine life and love of God.


St. Thomas Aquinas describes Christ’s presence in the Holy Eucharist as visus, tactus, gustus. This means that we actually see, touch, and taste Him when we behold Him in the Blessed Sacrament or receive Him in Holy Communion. His presence is real. When we celebrate the Mass, we witness Jesus once more emptying Himself of His divinity, becoming love made visible, love made edible!


Today’s feast is never more important than today. Our contemporary society, populated mostly by Baby Boomers, Gen X, Millennials, and Gen Z, hardly patronizes self-emptying love. Many of us are afflicted with a strong sense of entitlement, pursuing unsustainable lifestyles that result in environmental degradation, valuing possessions over meaningful relationships, and maintaining a work-centered lifestyle that often leads to mental health issues like anxiety, depression, and loneliness. We prefer self-serving love, which provides quick but temporary satisfaction often achieved without regard for others’ needs.


Is your love self-serving or self-emptying? What have you given up lately to prove your love for someone?

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Fr. Rolando V. dela Rosa O.P. THROUGH UNTRUE
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