Thursday of Week 24 in Ordinary Time
1 Tim 4:12-16
Lk 7:36-50
“…she would not have shown such great love.”
The devil is okay with us having a little religion, but not too much.
I can literally feel the unease, the downright awkward discomfort of what it would be like to be at a dinner party and witness someone (who doesn’t look like they were invited, based on their attire and/or reputation) approach a guest, sit at their feet, cry with love and begin to wash and kiss their feet. For someone to do that, they would have to have no concern or thought whatsoever about what others think of them. I believe many of the other guests would think they must be out of their mind and be whispering about them. Embarrassment alone would keep many from doing such a thing — it’s unacceptable in every way.
What kind of love must it be to initiate such an act? Great love, wouldn’t you agree?
The things we do and say when we are with close family and/or friends, versus what we would never do and say among a group we want to impress or be invisible in front of. How embarrassed are we willing to be when it comes to loving Christ?
It is easy to pray when one is alone, or in a church.
It is easy to love Jesus from afar. There is no cost.
But easy love isn’t really love, is it? After all, we have been created for heaven, not for earthly approval.
In ‘Food for the Soul’, Dr. Peter Kreeft writes, “Religion is a fine thing, says the modern mind, but let’s not overdo it. But that is exactly what the devil wants: a little religion, but not too much; a mild dose of it that can act like an antidote to the real thing. Sincere, passionate atheism is dangerous to the devil because it puts the God question front and center, even though it gives the wrong answer to it. Atheists have a dangerously high conversion rate. So do great sinners, whose passion makes them great saints when it is turned around. It takes less to turn a car around that is traveling fast in the wrong direction, than to start up a car that is stuck.”
So how much religion, how much love, is enough…to still get into heaven?
I think, perhaps enough would involve great love — as shown by this nameless woman of ill repute. As Scripture tells us in 1 Peter 4:8, “Above all, let your love for one another be intense, because love covers a multitude of sins.” And we know that we are to love God with all our heart, mind and strength. I have heard that God is crazy in love with us – shouldn’t we be the same?
Are you willing to be like the crazy woman who has shown great love? What would that look like in your circle? What would you be sacrificing to be a person who shows great love to Christ — each and every day?
(Today’s OXYGEN by Gina Ulicny)
Prayer: Lord God, how I desire to be crazy in love with You, to show great love for You at all times. And yet, it seems difficult. So many things demanding my time and so many loud voices keeping me from sharing Your love. Father God, remind me to fall into your grace, so that your love will shine through me.
Thanksgiving: Thank you Father, for my Catholic faith; for wanting to know you more intimately, and for the desire and ability to share my faith.
OXYGEN 
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