When Love Has No Place To Go

The end of all things is near; therefore be serious and discipline yourselves for the sake of your prayers.  Above all, maintain constant love for one another, for love covers a multitude of sins.  Be hospitable to one another without complaining. Like good stewards of the manifold grace of God, serve one another with whatever gift each of you has received. Whoever speaks must do so as one speaking the very words of God; whoever serves must do so with the strength that God supplies, so that God may be glorified in all things through Jesus Christ. To him belong the glory and the power forever and ever. Amen. 1 Peter 4:7-11

In reading Saint Paul's letter to the Roman's I was struck in a way that I never have been before. The reading said this;

Brothers and sisters:
I am speaking to you Gentiles.
Inasmuch as I am the apostle to the Gentiles,
I glory in my ministry in order to make my race jealous
and thus save some of them.
For if their rejection is the reconciliation of the world,
what will their acceptance be but life from the dead?

For the gifts and the call of God are irrevocable.
Just as you once disobeyed God
but have now received mercy because of their disobedience,
so they have now disobeyed in order that,
by virtue of the mercy shown to you,
they too may now receive mercy.
For God delivered all to disobedience,

that he might have mercy upon all.

Romans 11:13-15, 29-32

What struck me is how, even when we reject God, he is always working to extend His mercy and save, save even those who reject Him. He is fathomless mercy.

This is because love is always giving. True love, Godly love, gives, always looking for one a receiver to pour into. This pouring is holy and sanctifies a soul. I was pondering this reading as I went into the chapel to pray. I was suddenly struck by the story of Sodom and Gommorah. I thought about how Abraham was interceding for people, and how God kept telling Abraham he would relent if a certain number of righteous people were found. God looks for receivers of love. Abraham was one such soul. Abraham loved and interceded.

  Then he said, “Oh, do not let my lord be angry if I speak just once more. Suppose ten are found there.” He answered, “For the sake of ten I will not destroy it.” 33 And the Lord went his way, when he had finished speaking to Abraham, and Abraham returned to his place. Genesis 18:32-33

The Lord’s description of these cities was like this;

Then the Lord said, “How great is the outcry against Sodom and Gomorrah and how very grave their sin! I must go down and see whether they have done altogether according to the outcry that has come to me, and if not, I will know.” Genesis 18:20-21

And I thought about those words, how grave their sin! The Lord heard the outcry, the lack of love. And I knew that there was no love, love had been rejected, en masse, by the people in these cities. We see this happening in our own society today. Since God is love, when a place is devoid of love and love has nowhere to go, destruction ensues. We know this did actually happen.

But God is always looking for those who will receive His love;

So it was that, when God destroyed the cities of the plain, God remembered Abraham and sent Lot out of the midst of the overthrow, when he overthrew the cities in which Lot had settled. Genesis 19:29

For the sake of Abraham, God remembered. Love looks for those who are willing to receive it. He is always chasing us. Destruction falls when love has nowhere to go.

Which brings me to the Blessed Mother and one of her feasts which is known as the Queenship of Mary. Mary is one who received, in perfection, all of the love of God. It is why she is Queen of the Universe.

Our Salvation needed our cooperation.  God is Love in and of Himself and He pours love outward from Himself because that is what love does. The Father poured this love in its fullness, through the Son and the Spirit who are one with Him, into the Blessed Virgin.  She is singular in her perfection of the reception of God’s love. She is also the archetype of the church. It is for love of Our Lady, and the Church, who is open to all, that God invites us into His love which saves us, redeems us, and restores us. But we must accept the truth of what love is. We must know in our soul and our body what love is.

When we abuse our bodies, be it sexually, as was the case with Sodom, with food, with drugs, by denying the reality of the body, or with things that don’t recognize the dignity of who we are made to be, destruction befalls the body. When we abuse our souls by neglecting the things of God, destruction befalls the soul.

The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life and have it abundantly. John 10:10

Destruction comes when love is no longer recognized and minds become twisted from the barrage of lies flung at us daily. We become like animals. Violence is the result.

Claiming to be wise, they became fools, and they exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images resembling a mortal human or birds or four-footed animals or reptiles. Romans 1:22-23

Each member of the church that allows God to purify and surrenders to this purification becomes a vessel of love. But none surpass Our Lady. She is, in a human person, the vessel of God’s perfect love united to the Uncreated Immaculate Conception (the Holy Spirit), which is united to the Trinity. She is Mother of God.  God’s love for her is so great. God’s mercy for us is so great that He created her.  Her cooperative yes is filled with the love of God. She is the culmination of creation and there is a union between her and God that is beyond what our human minds can grasp.  God wants to extend to all of us, through her, the mediatrix of all grace, this love He pours out. The church through her Sacraments pours out the Love of God. Our Lady through her intercession pours out the love of God. When we receive and give this love things around us change.

We know this because we see it in the Saints. Saint Therese of Lisieux and Saint Bernedette and their cooperation have left a mark on France. Countless have been brought into the love of God because of them.

When we look at the state of America we can easily fall into despair, but don’t, let love have a place to go. Believe that God’s love can change you and trust that you’re where your supposed to be, even if it’s in the middle of suffering. Make Mary your Mother and be a light in the darkness because love covers a multitude of sins.