No rights, just duties

A PERSON who is truly in love with his beloved will

happily invoke his right to reject all his rights and just assume all

the duties toward his beloved. This is the ultimate language of love

where one just gives himself completely to his beloved without

expecting any return.

   

            We have to aim at that kind of love because that is the

love that Christ himself has shown and has given to us. In fact, he

commanded us to love one another as he himself has loved us. And we

know that his love for us goes all the way to giving up his life on

the cross, assuming all our sins and giving us a way to extricate

ourselves from the grip of our sinfulness.

  

            It is a completely gratuitous love, a love given without

measure and calculation. And the curious thing about this love is that

what seems to get lost by living it or what we give up by loving, will

actually gain for us a lot more than what is lost or given up.

  

            Christ reassured us of this when he said that when we give

up even the most precious things in our life, we would actually regain

them a hundredfold. “Whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but

whoever loses his life more me will find it.” (Mt 16,25) And he walked

his talk precisely by resurrecting three days after his most

ignominious death.

  

            We have to feel reassured of the effectiveness of this

kind of love. We have to convince ourselves that it is all worthwhile

to discard our rights and just think of duties with respect to loving.

In this way, we live in ourselves what Christ said of his own self:

“The Son of Man came to serve and not to be served.”

  

            A strong faith, of course, is needed here. And we just

have to make that faith filter down to our heart and emotions so that

we can get excited with the self-surrender involved in loving and that

we find meaning in it.

  

            Let’s find ways everyday to serve. Perhaps one good way is

to start the day, as we wake up, by saying, “Serviam,” I will serve,

addressing it to God and to everyone, whoever he may be. We should try

not to make distinctions as to whom to serve.

   

            Obviously, our serving others, which is the reason for

discarding all our rights and just assuming duties, should be done in

the context of God’s law of love, that can lend itself in different

ways to the needs of all kinds of people, whether they deserve it or

not, etc.

  

            Sooner or later, we will notice that instead of depleting

ourselves of energy, we will find ourselves filled with an unspeakable

kind of satisfaction. Indeed, Christ’s words about losing in order to

gain, really works.

  

            In a sense, we live out the following words of Christ:

“Unless a grain of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains just

a grain of wheat. But if it dies, it produces much fruit.” (Jn 12,24)

We should not be afraid to lose our rights. Just fulfill the duty to

love everyone as Christ has loved and continues to love us!