Friday in the Third Week

Hosea 14:1-9; Psalm 81:8-14; Mark 12:28-34

You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind, and with all your strength.  And you shall love your neighbor as yourself.

Last week I spoke via Skype to a college class in New Mexico.  They are studying gay and lesbian literature, and they read a piece I wrote 20 years ago about equal citizenship.  They were very curious about how I had gone from writing on queer politics to being a nun.  Most of them had never met or heard a Christian who didn't think homosexuality is an abomination, who read the Bible reverently but not literally.  I talked about love and wholeness as the thread between the earlier work and where I am now.  I told them about falling in love with Jesus and letting that shape the rest of my life.  I never thought of it as obeying a commandment; I just followed my heart.

There are days now when I'm less fervent.  My mind can wander during prayer times.  Sometimes Compline is reduced to saying the Nunc Dimittis and "good night, God."  But I still love God in that deep, persistent way.  I hope, I think, the students saw that.

I'm writing this blog because as part of loving God better, calling me back.  I'm also writing it to love you, dear reader.  I'm not the best at "corporal acts of mercy" (look it up!), but I so want you to have access to that love that transforms us.  I will tell you of God's love for you until I fall asleep or you turn away.  I hope this feeds you; I hope it stirs you to feed others, to rejoice in God's crazy love for you.

I've struggled for years with a feeling of being selfish, self-centered, deficient.  Thinking about these two commandments reminds me that we're all built differently, with diverse hearts and minds and souls.  The way we love is diverse too.  But the love binds us.

Who are you called to love today?  How will you do that?  How will you love God?

May you love today, with all your being.