It is the month of June where we celebrate the fire of the perfect love Jesus has for each one of us in His Sacred Heart. And yet, in the world it is the month of Pride.
Both are called ‘Love.’ But what love reflects our Catholic Christian Faith?There’s a love that we have for our children when we say we are ‘proud’ of them. Yet, in that moment we need to be specific to what proud means. We don’t want to use pride in the sense that caused the angels to fall from heaven.
Per dictionary.cambridge.org, the English Synonyms for proud are: arrogant, pompous, self-important, superior, conceited, supercilious, condescending, patronizing, haughty, snooty, hoity-toity and sniffy.
Try those synonyms in a sentence to express what you mean?
The only antonym listed is “Humble.” So how do we express pride in a humble manner?
When we say I’m proud of you, what should we mean in that sentence, how do we extend that meaning in our sentences to reflect what we mean?”
Let’s try these phrases: “I’m proud of how hard you worked and that you graduated today.”, “I’m proud of how you are raising your child to be a good person, good job!” This is my favorite,” I’m proud of how you are using your God given talents.” (For nothing is possible without God.)
What about when we aren’t proud of how our children are using their God given talents? My Dad used to tell me, “I may not always like you, but I always love you.” I acknowledge my love for my children in reflection of God’s unconditional love. Since I must “forgive others to be forgiven,” it is necessary to love unconditionally.
In that same circumstance, it is important that our children know that we stand upon the Rock of the true beliefs of our Catholic Faith. In this way we love our neighbor as God loves us. Because, our neighbors were made like us to be God’s children and should be our spiritual children.
Jesus said even those who are evil know to not to give our children a stone when they ask for bread, then how much more does our Heavenly Father know what to give us?
We need to share the love of the Sacred Heart of Jesus with others. This does not mean we condone the actions of the sin/ They must know on a daily bai we agree with the fullness of the truth. We should not hide God’s love under a bushel basket. Rather let it shine for all to see.
It’s not in winning a debate that we accomplish these things, though disussion is valuable. Rather, when a person knows we love him despite our differences, they see ‘love in action, ‘love beyond understanding’ and then they may question, “where did this love come from?”
This opens the door of their hearts and that’s when we share the love Jesus has for us in his heart, it can enter theirs.
Blessings.
Ruth Ellen
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