Nothing without Love

Recently I have been the company of some Army colleagues doing some training. Very accomplished men. Real fighters and warriors, real medics, men tested in combat. As I listen and engage with them, I often find that they, like me, still lack something. They, like you, are still searching for something.

Today is the solemnity of the Sacred Heart of Jesus. The love that Jesus has for you pours forth from His heart to yours. Love is what these men, you, and I are searching for. We don’t speak of it this way but this is the bottom-line truth of why we do, search, and struggle--Love. 1 Corinthians 13:2 says “and if I have prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but have not love, I gain nothing.”

You can be the physically toughest, most accomplished, most brilliant, most talented man on the planet but if you do not have love, you have nothing. I say again without love, the love that has been poured out for you, by Jesus, from the Father, through the Holy Spirit, you have nothing.

You must push yourself daily to become a real man, a warrior. But how you do it, what motivates and inspires you, what you rely on in difficult times matters. If it is on your own power, or worldly ideas of success, you will miss the mark and find only disappointment.

But if it is Love, the Love that allowed the wounds of Calvary, embraced the cross for our salvation and flows from the Sacred Heart of Jesus, you have everything. Most Sacred Heart of Jesus, have mercy on us.