Love

This is time of the year when the Seminary takes a break - two months of it, to be exact!

During such moments, the place here resembles a little bit more on the side of a cemetary than that of the Seminary. Much of the main activities here have slowed off or shut down. The staff is almost a skeletal crew. Yet, it still doesn't stop some parish groups from having their time for retreats and other related engagements in the Seminary.

In this lull moments, one would be forgiven to think that I would be free and have much more time than during the term times. Unfortunately, that is not the case. Besides having to prepare and do up the notes for the next semester's classes in the Philosophy cycle, I also have to contend with my other Archdiocesan work in the Priestly Life and ad-hoc committees, and other minor talks and retreats, all with need to do some preparation and research, etc. These, again, means time needed to work on the items trying to juggle all of them, finding a decent balance to what my body and mind can cope with.

Tomorrow, for the entire day into the night, I shall be at IHM retreat house giving a session to one of the parish choir on the theme of God's Love For Us. It is an apt moment to consider this and also for myself, because for most of the time that we exist, we don't ever find the time to look into the awesomeness of this love that is always enveloping and sustaining us and providing life all the time.

This coming Sunday's celebration happens to be Trinity Sunday and is also a great day to celebrate this love for it speaks of the fiery and deep relationship between the Father and Son which the Holy Spirit unites in the embrace of utter unconditional love that wants to ignite the world with its power.

Our human version of what love is all about pales in total comparison with what the prophets of the Old Testament experienced, the apostles and disciples of Christ engage it, and the early Christians felt when they allowed themselves to be wrapped up in this ferocious and passionate love that knows no end but only limited by how we response to it.

No matter what we can say about this, perhaps no one can put it in a better way than Paul himself who touched that powerhouse of love and was burned to the very core by its fiery passion:

For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels,

nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come,

nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us

from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Rom 8: 38 - 39