by Rev. Herbert Nichols

Love, Love, Love, The readings today are filled with the word "Love". Probably one of the most over used words in the English language--perhaps second only to the vulgar euphemism which has very little to do with the act of love.

Everyone talks about it and think they know all about it. Yet it has baffled linguists and philosophers for centuries. But no one has been able to adequately define it. We can't define it because it is too big. We know it's there. It won't go away. In fact we are willing to suffer and even die for it---and we would surely die without it, whether in the first 15 months of our life or the last.

We know a lot about love. We know what it does. We feel the joy that it brings to our life. But we can't define it because love is infinite. Love is not something we invented or initiated. Love is the very essence of Godliness.

St. John, the Beloved disciple continues his teaching on love during this Easter Season: "Beloved, let us love one another. Love is from God. It is not that we have loved God; but that God has first loved us, and sent His Son as an offering for our sins

If God has so loved us, we must have the same love for one another for we cannot love God whom we don't see unless we love our neighbor whom we do see.

Perhaps these words of Scripture might best be illustrated in the words of a tiny child: As her mother kissed her and tucked her into bed. The little girl didn't want her to leave her alone in the dark. But her mother reassured her saying: "It's okay. Just cuddle your teddy bear and you won't be alone. But the little girl replied, "Teddy's no good for that I need someone with skin on the face."

Too often our image of God is one that fails to have skin on the face. But our God had human flesh and blood just as we do and shares in the same joys and sufferings and even death as we do. We might have difficulty relating to the Holy Spirit whom we will honor in a couple of weeks; but we should have no difficulty identifying with Jesus.

If teddy doesn't work for us adults, we might envision our spiritual life as a safety deposit box. No one should have a problem with that. This safety deposit box, just like the one at the bank, has two keys.

God has the first key, hence only God can enter into the inner secrecies of our heart. Only God can fill our heart with His essence, His love. Only God can enable us to love.

But even God cannot do it alone. It requires the second key. God cannot enter unless we want him there. Only when both keys, God's love and human freedom, unlock the door of the heart; only then do we find the real meaning of love.

Two keys. God has one. You have the other.