Love Hurts

Yes, the words of the great band Nazareth are flowing through my ears:

"Oooh Ooh Love Hurts..."

These words seem to be even more clear to me in light of the words of Mother Theresa. I received this from a friend, and thought it a good thing to think about:

"Love, to be real, must hurt. If you want to truly love the poor, you must share with them. If you want poverty to disappear, share it. A gentleman asked me, "What must we do to eliminate poverty from India?" I answered, "We need to learn to share with the poor." That is what I want to share with you. We cannot share unless our lives are full of God's love and our heart are pure. As Jesus said, "Blessed are the poor of heart, for they shall see God." Unless we are able to see God in our neighbor, it will be very hard for us to love. Since love begins at home, let's love each other at home. Jesus said, "Love one another as I have loved you." He loved until it hurt. Jesus' love is so overwhelming that you and I can love Him and find life. We can love Jesus in the hungry, the naked, and the destitute who are dying. We can love him because our prayer gives us the faith we need to be able to love. If you love you will be willing to serve. And you will find Jesus in the distressing disguise of the poor."

I find a lot of times I don't really have a concern for the poor. I am so busy trying to live my life, to accomplish my goals, to set out for the task at hand, that I rarely take a break to even think about the "least of these", let alone to do something, to go into action. I find this statement "we need to learn to share with the poor" seems so simplistic, but also so incredibly compelling. Loving hurts, but it is not as hard as it may seem. The important part is that one has the willingness to try in spite of the hardships and pain that such a task entails. Again,

Ooooh, Oooh, Love hurts.