Homily: Fourth Tuesday of Advent
Fourth Tuesday of Advent (Song of Songs 2:8-14) “God’s Passionate Love”
The words of the first reading are not what we have come to expect from Scripture. We hear about a lover sneaking out in the night to meet her beloved. The words are heavy with passion. The sexual connotations are blatant. We might be shocked. But should we be?
We say that God is love but is there only one type of love? Philosophers would say that there are four types of love. What are they?
We have the love that it is friendship. One of the greatest gifts we can have in life would be to have one intimate friend. We have many acquaintances in life. But we only have a few friends who we share our inmost thoughts with, people who we can talk to about anything, individuals who will be there with us no matter what we are going through.
The second type of love is affection. Affection is the feeling we have toward members of our family. The love we have for family members is always there, but sometimes they are not the people that we share our most intimate self with. We love them, but there are certain things we might not say. Family members may be intimate friends, but not necessarily.
The third type of love is agape’. This is our love for God and God’s love for us. This divine love is always there. God never rescinds it. We may turn away from God, but God never let’s us go. That leads into the last love.
Eros is the last type of love. This is the love that is described in the Song of Songs. Such love is a love that is not rational, but is a love that is, in a certain sense, out of control. If we are lucky, we have experienced such love. If we have then we know what God’s love of us is like. Eros is pleasurable on the one hand, but it is painful on the other. God is probably disappointed in us, but our Lord cannot control his feelings for us. He will pursue us as the lovers in the Song of Songs pursue each other.
Reflection Questions:
- Do I consider sexual love as dirty or as having nothing to do with God? Why?
- Have I ever been passionately in love? Can I feel God’s passion for me? What gets in the way?
Dear Parishioners,
We had a wonderful Reconciliation Service last night. We have not been able to have a service for two years. It was good to be able to have this healing moment in our parish life. There were some people carrying heavy burdens.
I would remind people that there are Reconciliation times the next three days. The times are:
Tuesday 4-5 p.m.
Wednesday 6-7 p.m.
Thursday 6-7 p.m.
You can come in the East door or the middle front door.
May Our Lady and All the Angels and Saints watch over you.
Fr. Mark
P.S. Remember there is no Mass at 4 p.m. this Saturday (Christmas Day).