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The Greatest Love Stories Ever Told
Dr Stuart Blackie KCHS
The title of this article is loosely derived from a Hollywood film. Hollywood epics usually involve a crisis precipitated by a mixture of love, betrayal, money, ambition, power and pressure (both subtle and violent) in various combinations and permutations. In former times the “good guys” usually came out on top in the end but more recently this has not always been the case.
Recently I was privileged to attend a talk by Archbishop Michael Fitzgerald, an expert on Muslim-Christian relations. At his retirement in 2012 he was the Papal Nuncio to Egypt and a delegate to the Arab League. He headed the Pontifical Council f or Inter-religious Dialogue from 2002 to 2006.
Among the questions asked afterwards was “Could a Muslim say the Our Father?” His reply was interesting in that he said they could say the whole prayer – with the exception of “Our Father”. To the Islamic mind, it is inconceivable that Allah, with his 99 attributes, including Creator of the Universe, could lower – even debase - Himself to become man.
Humility
From a purely human perspective, this is understandable. So is it not truly amazing that that is exactly what He did! Could there be a greater demonstration of humility than that practised by God Himself? And He has provided evidence to back up His claim. This is one area where Islamic and Christian beliefs diverge. The love of the Christian God is so great and the magnitude of His inventiveness and His generosity is such that it beggars belief. For instance, when tempted in the desert, it was suggested that He change stones into bread. Immediately practical – but how mundane! As we know, He did not succumb to this - but who could have predicted that later He would turn mere bread into His body!
Love does not exist in isolation. God is not alone in His heaven. Surely the greatest love story that can exist is that between God the Father and the Second Person of the Blessed Trinity. Though a full explanation of the concept of the Trinity is beyond human comprehension, one theory maintains that Their bond of mutual love is so strong, that the magnitude of its intensity so great, that it begets the Holy Spirit.
The infinite
The second most important love story is that between Our Lord and His mother. She is the only person in history to have perfectly fulfilled the will of God in her life and served only to magnify the Infinite. She personally exemplified the dignity of humankind and demonstrated the pattern of life for which we were designed and created. At the end of her life, such was the mutual love between her and her Son that she was taken up to heaven, body and soul, incorrupt, and crowned Queen of Heaven. Her transformed, transfigured and glorified body has subsequently been witnessed on many occasions. She is the highest honour of our race.
‘The second most important love story is that between Our Lord and His mother…’
Initially mankind was made in the image and likeness of God. Mary has already reached the goal to which the rest of us are striving. What God has achieved in Mary is nothing less than His own cherished hope for each one of us. However, the Fall intervened and, though we still have free will, we now find that we still have a long way to go and much to learn about the consequences of our actions. As we all know, it is an uphill struggle. He knows what we are like. He knows the frailty of each one of us, including those of our leaders, but He loves us too much to let us stay as we are and leave us to our own devices.
It has been said that Satan, in his arrogance, was completely taken by surprise and amazement that, after the F all, God could love his creation so much and show such great compassion that, rather than abandon it, He was prepared to send a saviour to redeem the human race. This compassion was exemplified and described by Sister Faustina in her diary when she wrote, “I saw a great light with God the Father in the midst of it. Between this light and the earth, I saw Jesus nailed to the Cross and in such a way that God, wanting to look at the earth, had to look through Our Lord’s wounds.”
God’s plan
Duns Scotus maintained that, despite what is described as a “happy fault” in the Exultet, it was always God’s plan to become incarnate by Mary and, as King, to lead humanity to a hypostatic union with Himself. It was to this plan that Lucifer objected so strongly. Had the Fall not happened, the reception of the Incarnate God would have been triumphal - very different from that which He did, in fact, receive.
Maybe our raison d’etre is to ensure that at His second coming, He does receive the appropriate reception.
As I understand it, humankind was initially designed as a framework to form a cohesive structure of interdependent people willingly cooperating in an atmosphere of mutual love and trust, and inspired by the grace of God. Love generates good and only good – and that is how it can be unmistakably recognised. God regards the greatness of the love that prompts a man rather than the greatness of his achievement.
St John the Evangelist maintains that God is Love. In contrast, of the 99 attributes of Allah, love and kindness only come in at 45. The Christian reality of God consists of unconditional and sacrificial love together with unparalleled generosity, compassion and profligate superabundance.
Good and evil
The battle between good and evil is not an evenly matched contest. Though at times he seems to have gained the upper hand, Satan himself knows his time is limited and that he will eventually fail. All he can do in the meantime is spoil.
We know, as a result of the apparitions at Fatima in 1917, that w e ca n expect to experience unpleasant periods of trials, tribulations and turbulence, possibly sufficient to shake the very foundations of the Church itself. However, we have been assured that “the gates of Hell will not prevail against it” and have the guarantee that Good, in the form of the Sacred and Immaculate Hearts, will indeed ultimately triumph.
Hopefully when our sojourn here on earth comes to an end, we will ourselves eventually experience the full force of the love of God. Some of it will be channelled not only through our forebears, relations and friends who have preceded us and will welcome us home but also through the cloud of the Church Triumphant which has, largely unacknowledged by us, been continuously encouraging us, interceding for us, and cheering us on. Hollywood cannot match epics of this scale!
Hollywood cannot match epics of this scale!
