Love Is...

Over the weekend, CT, my brother, and I had a discussion about what a relationship means. (We were kind of supposed to be part of a monthly discussion group, but couldn't make it. So we held our own ^^) Ok, so we pretty much skirted around the usual fairytale kinds of relationships. We were looking for what REAL love is, not the romanticized version, not the kind that lasts only when the sun is shining.
We all agreed that a relationship, no matter which kind or vocation we are called to, needs to be rooted in God, because God is the source of all love.
The next step was to discuss relationships/friendships with other people. What does it mean to love someone? Well, here's something I learned from a local youth group: read 1 Corinthians 13. Take the word "love" and replace it with your name. Now see how far you get....

Love is patient, love is kind. Love is not jealous, love is not pompous, love is not inflated, love is not rude, love does not seek its own interests, love is not quick-tempered, love does not brood over injury, love does not rejoice over wrongdoing but rejoices with the truth. Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.
Love never fails.
~ Saint Paul, 1 Corinthians 13

Did it match? If it does, then, wow. Congrats to you! Pray for the rest of us, k?
If not, well, nobody expects you to get it right away. In fact, probably the only place we can really have that kind of pure love is in Heaven. This little exercise, by the way, is a good guideline for us not just as a lifetime goal, but as a daily one.

Love hurts. Love after all, is a sacrifice. Just look at the most perfect acts of Love: Jesus in the Eucharist...Jesus dying on the Cross. Love says that we must not keep things for ourselves, but instead give them all away. Love takes a part of us and gives it to someone else. In a relationship (or friendship, or marriage, or any kind of communication we have with another), we need to be this love for the other person, even if that love is not returned.
But Love also endures all things. True Love is always worth it.
As my sister says, it's hard. But it's not impossible.
Let's pray that we attain this kind of love...


And can I say? Saint Paul rocks.