Let Love love you

Love so amazing, so divine
Demands my soul, my life, my all
~ From When I Survey the Wondrous Cross, Isaac Watts

A few days ago, while leafing through a book I hadn't read for ages, I came across a postcard I'd bought several years ago, presumably left there as a bookmark. It shows Jesus washing his disciples' feet; or rather, the point at which Peter protested. Underneath the image were the words Let Love love you. These were the words, leaping out at me from the display stand in the shop, which made me buy the postcard, and which have spoken in my heart, softly, insistently, at different times since.

Let Love love you... The conviction of being loved has to be one of the most supreme, unparalleled joys... so why do we hold back? Maybe, like Peter, it's because we protest our unworthiness in the face of a love so amazing, so divine. Or maybe we fear Love's demands; fear being called or impelled beyond the limits we'd like to set around our generosity, sacrifice and response. We know that God's love is unconditional, gratuitous: we will be loved whether we respond or not, whether we're worthy or not... but maybe we also know - and fear - that once we let Love in, nothing will ever be the same again.

And maybe, too, we find it hard to recognise, let alone accept Love when it comes in disguise, or unexpected ways. A God who kneels at our feet, wanting to be our servant...? No wonder Peter protested! And a Saviour who embraces the cross out of love...? No wonder we draw back! - even as we are also drawn in.

But the challenge and the call persists. Let Love love you... Not according to my limitations or ideals, or the ways of my choosing, but the unlimited, all-encompassing way Love chooses to love me...

Wishing you all a blessed, graced Triduum, as we accompany Jesus, Love so amazing, so divine...


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