The Price of Love
“Amen, amen, I say to you, when you were younger,
you used to dress yourself and go where you wanted;
but when you grow old, you will stretch out your hands,
and someone else will dress you
and lead you where you do not want to go.”John 21:18
Initially I had mixed thoughts about the title I gave to this reflection. Love shouldn’t cost us anything, for it should be freely given and freely received, so wouldn’t saying the “price” of love be contradictory? In the Scriptures we hear about the “pearl of great price” and St. Peter tells us that we were not redeemed by any perishable sum of gold or silver. So indeed there is a price that comes with love, but not a quantifiable, monetary one. The price of the greatest love is God Himself.
After rising from the dead, Jesus appeared to the Apostles and on one occasion talked one on one with Peter. Jesus asked Him three times “Do you love me?” Each time Peter answers in the affirmative and Jesus charges him with a mission (for a more in-depth reflection on this encounter, click here). At the end of the conversation, Jesus tells Peter that he will be led to where he does not want to do, and isn’t this a big part of love? When we love someone we will sometimes have to do something or go someplace we’d rather not.
True love requires sacrifice. No one normally seeks out sacrifices — that wouldn’t be true love for the intention would be something other than wanting the good of the other. If we wake up in the morning and think, “Hmm, what kind of sacrifices can I seek out today?” I think it might come from a place of pride. But rather, we might think and pray, “Lord, how I can serve you today? Please give me the courage and strength to step outside of my comfort zone to see you in the other.”
Today we celebrate the sacrifice of the martyrs St. Charles Lwanga and his companions. They were young Ugandan Christians who rejected to break the moral laws when they were asked to do so by their political ruler, and as a result were martyred. Because they received and experienced the love of Christ, the sacrifice of His love, they were able to do the same — to lay down their lives in witness to the love of Christ. That is the price of love.
