The cost of love is stupendous

The stakes are very high

The price of loving is enormous

The risks are too great to ignore

To undertake a journey of love

Is to undertake a huge investment

With no insurance cover

We hear the expression “I love you”

So very often

But what does it mean?

When a mother says “I love you”

To her disabled child

What does it mean?

When a man visits his sick wife

And says “I love you”

What does it mean?

When Jesus says

To his disciples (and us): “I love you”

What does it mean?

It means the cross

It means sweat

It means blood

It means pain

It means tears

It means death

To love means to give life

In a world that is dying

We often reduce the meaning of love

To a sweet, harmless thing

To some sensual feeling of goodness

But the word love is always cross-shaped

That is why Christ says

That the proof of love

Is that a man lays down his life

For his friend

Is this not the reason

Why we often refuse to love?

Is this not the reason

Why we often refuse to get involved?

We run away from the risks and the costs

Which go with the life-giving mystery of love

We run away from the tears and pain

Which are unavoidable in the divine project of love

We often rationalise

And say there is a limit to everything

But love is not a project of the head

It is something of the heart

To love is to triumph over all fear

To love is to do something victorious

To love is to do something glorious

To love is to conquer death

And live to the full.