Really real

I only really love God as much as the person I love the least

          Dorothy Day

 

who do you love?

who do you endow with value?

to whom do you cede power and give power?

 

who are the influencers in your life?

 

why do you love it?

why do you endow those people with value?

why do you defer to them and give them control over your

heart

your mind

your actions?

 

why?

 

if I am honest

I would guess I normally love and value

those who I believe can offer me something

those who can give me what I want and think I need

 

if I am honest,

even my relationship with God

is kind of

like

that

 

I look to God for blessing and safety

for (to put it bluntly) power and wealth

 

and I suspect I am not alone

 

and yet!

when Love came down

Love taught us a different way.

 

you have heard it said

but I say

 

You have heard that it was said, ‘Love your neighbor and hate your enemy

but I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you

 

don’t just love those who love you

even those you consider the worst among you

do that

 

If you value and recognize only people like yourself?

well , big deal

everyone does that!

 

but be perfect as God is perfect

(Wait! What?)

 

see all

value all

love all

forgive all

welcome all

 

total love

unconditional love

is God’s love, is perfect love

and that love

 

is what I ask of you!

 

how we love the person we love the least

is how we love God

 

who is my “least?”

who is your “least?”

 

for some, the least are the poor

(but blessed are the poor)

 

for some, the least are the “strangers” (the immigrant)

(love the stranger as yourself)

 

we all have those who are “least”

 

perhaps it is that person who loves his/her gun

or that person who is racist

or that person who is greedy and grasping

or whose ideology focuses on domination

 

Ah!

this is hard

this command to love

to live love (since we can’t be commanded to feel love)

 

but if God loves THAT person

how can we withhold love?

even if they are poor

or addicted

or dirty

or filthy wealthy

or abuse power

or lie

or try to create a totalitarian government (at the point of a gun)

 

this is harder than I thought!

I was all ready to be righteous!

to insist that I DO love the poor, the vulnerable, the struggling

but can I love the rich, the powerful, the arrogant?

 

and what does it look like

to love those who are my “least”

I can give to the poor

welcome the stranger

 

what do I do with the January 6 insurgents?

what do I do with the person in McDonald’s with an AR-15?

what do I do with the person who has more money than he/she could ever spend,

and still does not pay a living wage?

 

Lord, I am undone

I need a little help