LOVE BEYOND MEASURE

From Ande's first valentine to me--1978

Tomorrow we remember how beautiful this love is that many of us have for each other. In my case, Ande is my blessing before all others.

She’s made of music, and nurse’s hands-on care, with so much mischief and love raising up our children.

Yesterday she played it on the violin, with tears of joy in her recital. Any instrument will dance with her. So still do I.

We all lean with trepidation, bordering on complete trust, towards that love which gives the whole self for the good of the beloved. Greater love than this no one has than to lay down their life for ones they love. Jesus did so, and promises we can too. It is not easy. There is suffering, along with the tears of unbounded joy. We're called often to love the unlovable, and the beautiful, at once.

Jesus andHis Sacred Heart

St. Valentine was a martyr of the early church. Not much is known of him, but it appears he was a priest [perhaps married himself] who was caught marrying Christian couples and caring for any believers being persecuted.

Here are some words better than mine---happiness and hope in our valentines.

But as all several souls contain
Mixture of things they know not what,
Love these mix'd souls doth mix again,
And makes both one, each this, and that.

A single violet transplant,
The strength, the colour, and the size—
All which before was poor and scant—
Redoubles still, and multiplies.

When love with one another so
Interanimates two souls,
That abler soul, which thence doth flow,
Defects of loneliness controls.

From “Ecstacy” by John Dunne

Then it was as if I suddenly saw the secret beauty of their hearts, the depths of their hearts where neither sin nor desire nor self-knowledge can reach, the core of their reality, the person that each one is in God’s eyes. If only they could see themselves as they really are. If only we could see each other that way all the time, there would be no more war, no more hatred, no more cruelty, no more greed…. by Thomas Merton