Column: Giving Yourself in Love

"If anyone wishes to be first, he shall be the last of all and the servant of all." These words of Jesus from today's Gospel parallel his words in Luke 17:33: "Whoever seeks to preserve his life will lose it, but whoever loses it will save it", and from Matthew 16:24-26 "Whoever wishes to come after me must deny himself, take up his cross, and follow me. For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it."

St. John Paul II loved to emphasize this truth and to do so frequently quoted this line from the Second Vatican Council's Pastoral Constitution on the Church in the Modern World, Gaudium et Spes: "Man, who is the only creature on earth which God willed for itself, cannot fully find himself except through a sincere gift of himself" (GS 22). 

In doing this, in taking up our cross, denying ourselves, and serving others, we are "losing our life." We are giving it away to God and to others. But in so doing we end up actually finding and securing it -- ultimately for eternity. As Gaudium et Spes points out, this law is written into what it means to be a human, and that comes from God Himself. God is a Trinity of persons, who are from eternity giving and receiving love. Since God made us in his image and likeness, we too are made for this giving and receiving of love. As St. John Paul II points out again in his apostolic exhortation Familiaris Consortia, we are made by love for love (FC 77). We are created by the God who is an eternal exchange of persons in love, and this God made us for the same love.

Give this self-giving love a try this week, even if just in a small way. Go through a drive-through and pay for the person behind you in line. Write someone a letter. Buy your wife flowers. Clean out the dishwasher without being asked. Even in these small things, we are loving others, giving of ourselves for them, and in doing so we find that it is actually a fulfilling thing to do. Often times we think it's going to be hard or awkward to do something for someone in these ways, but afterwards find it was actually a rewarding experience. It ends up being life-giving for us to give life to others by our actions.

This is the mystery Jesus is inviting us into today. By putting others before us and serving them, we not only bless those around us, but end up being blessed ourselves. God is unbelievable generous, if only we will heed his commands.