Many people will ask themselves, "Have I lived well enough?" The better question is "Have I loved enough?" From the Catholic perspective, the true definition of love means to will the good of the other, as stated by Aquinas. And it is oftentimes so difficult to love another person, despite really loving the hell out of them. One must learn to forget yourself, to empty yourself, to give the very gift of self.
I have a three month old baby boy. It is not uncommon for me to be awoken at some horrible hour of the night to the sound of him crying. It is an aspect of motherhood I struggle with the most; lack of sleep on a constant basis. This happened recently on a night when my entire body and perhaps even soul wanted just one more minute under the covers. Do I ignore his desperate cries? Or do I peel myself out of bed and pick him up?
So I cradled him close to me and felt him settle down. I check my phone for the time - 3:49 AM.
I think we will all be faced with this choice. It won't be on screen or on a stage. It will be personal and you will be faced with taking the hard path or the easier one.
To get up and hold the baby, or not.
To keep him in the first place when he came at an inopportune time, or not.
To pick up the phone and make amends, or not.
To visit the nursing home, or not.
To stick it out in your marriage, or not.
You and I have not been called to lay down our lives for our own sake, but for others. When we see that every person is a unique, unrepeatable and intentional creation of God, we're more willing to acknowledge that people are in fact more important than things, desires, plans and appearances. I think this is precisely the main problem within society today. We do not see the value in each other. We are not willing to push ourselves aside.
I absolutely do love that boy. He is God's gift to me.
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