Born to Love
In order to understand this article, you're gonna have to listen to the song, "Born" by One Republic. (Seriously, do it!)
Guys, this song makes me feel SO alive. I could seriously listen to it everyday. It just stirs this deep truth within my being, like the sun is rising in my heart. I know, that sounds like a pile of poetic mush, but it really does! If you set aside a.) this is a catchy pop song and b.) it’s obviously talking about an earthly love, you'll be left with an earth shattering chorus: “I was born, born to love you.”
A lot of people ask themselves some variation of these questions: “Who am I? What is the meaning of life? What is this all for? Why am I here?” In their own catchy, and probably accidental way, OneRepublic answers those questions. I was born to love! God created me out of love, to love! How could those beautiful truths NOT make you just glow with joy?? :)
Ash Wednesday is this week, marking the first day of Lent. This is a time when we remember Christ giving His life on the cross out of love. He showed us on that cross the true purpose of our lives: sacrificial love. This song helps remind me, through the resounding echo of human voices, that I am His, created out of the dust to love.
Fr. Mike Schmitz (who is AMAZING if you don’t know him) explains the “Significance of Ash Wednesday” in one of his many YouTube videos. The ashes, he tells us, are a symbol of our grief because we have sinned and separated ourselves from God and His love. They seem to say, “I am a sinner.” And we are! But Fr. Mike very pointedly draws our attention to the shape of the ashes on our foreheads. We are sinners, BUT Jesus came to give life and claimed us as His own. Us and all of our sins.
“We are children of God, and if children, then heirs, heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ, if only we suffer with him so that we may also be glorified with him.” (Romans 8:17) We are all sons and daughters of the King, rightful heirs of a Kingdom He has invited us to share if we but suffer with Him. So, what does that suffering look like? Perhaps it's setting aside our own comfort to love to God and our neighbor.
Now here’s where the Lenten challenge drops. You knew it was coming! ;) This Lent, let’s walk through Mercy together. I don't know about you, but most Lents for me tend to be a scrambled mess. I spend so much time trying to figure out what I’ll ‘do’ that I miss the whole point. Not this time! This year, I am focusing on Mercy: how I can better receive it from Christ, and how I can better give it to those around me. Since there are 7 Mondays in Lent (if we start a liiitttle early ;P) I'll be covering the Corporal & Spiritual Works of Mercy one at a time. (One Corporal Work + one Spiritual Work each week.)
So, let's get to it! The word corporal essentially means 'bodily'. So all of the Corporal Works of Mercy are aiding one’s physical wellbeing, where the Spiritual Works of Mercy are aiding their spiritual wellbeing. The first Corporal Work of Mercy is: Feed the Hungry (Literally)
The first Spiritual Work of Mercy is: Instruct the ignorant (AKA Teach Someone Something They Didn't Know/ Spread the "Good News"/ Feed Their Soul)
Now on to our challenge. This week (you can start today! or begin on Ash Wednesday), choose one concrete way to live out the works of mercy. [I'm planning on writing them out and putting them in a jar, so every day is a surprise! But if you're more of a planner, then putting them in your schedule is a great idea ;)]
Step one: spend 15 minutes in prayer. (Okay, don't freak out, it's really not that long. You can set a timer, I swear it'll fly by!) Remember: "you can't give what you don't have." So spend 15 minutes asking God to help you better receive His love and mercy so that you are able to pour it out to others. Part of your prayer could also be for those whom you'll encounter that day!
Step two: Living it out (choose one per day).
Corporal: Feed the Hungry
- Keep granola bars in your car/backpack to pass out to people in need at stoplights, or around town.
- Serve at a soup kitchen.
- Give canned goods to a food drive.
- Pack a peanut butter sandwich to give to someone in need. (If you have more peanut butter, make a few!) You never know who you'll run into who forgot their lunch, was too busy to get a break, or doesn't have the means to afford food.
- Prepare and take a meal to someone in your community who is ill, overwhelmed, or welcoming home a newborn.
- Take a friend out to lunch, your treat.
-If you're a student: use your meal points to buy an extra bagel or piece of fruit in the morning. Find someone who needs it. (Believe me, there are hungry students everywhere. Can't find a hungry student? Feed a hungry professor!) It may not seem like much, but it could very well make their day, and prevent some hangry situations...
- Also in the same vein ^, buy a dessert at the food court and give it to someone sitting alone. Don't stop there! Ask if you can eat your meal with them. Being by yourself for meals can stink, so make it sweet! ;)
- If you're getting fast food, pay it forward for the person behind you. (If you're standing in line, make it personal, ask them if you can pay for their meal.)
Spiritual: Instruct the Ignorant
- Invite someone to go to mass with you today (They don't have to be Catholic to attend mass).
- Invite someone to go to Bible study with you.
- If you end up serving at a soup kitchen or serving those experiencing homelessness, spend some time listening to the people there. Ask them questions about their lives. Help them to know their dignity as sons and daughters of the King through your love and full attention.
- Battle your own ignorance by: picking up a Catechism and learning something you didn’t know about your faith.
- OR (If you don't know already) Learn about what the Church actually teaches on hot button issues like contraception, abortion, homosexuality, etc. so that you have some resources and answers for your friends/family the next time it comes up. (The Catechism of the Catholic Church, usccb.org, encyclicals like Theology of the Body, Humanae Vitae, or asking a priest, are all good resources for answers.)
When we choose to give our lives through love, we find who we truly were made to be. We are then, as OneRepublic wrote, “trading darkness for the dawn.” Let's live out what we were born to do: LOVE.
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I hope you'll join me! But, if you don’t like this idea and still don’t know what to do for Lent, check out these resources.