With age-old love

“With age-old love I have loved you; so I have kept my mercy toward you. Again I will restore you, and you shall be rebuilt, O virgin Israel; Carrying your festive tambourines, you shall go forth dancing with the merrymakers.” (JER 31: 3-4)

This is the right perspective for all kinds of love—between spouses, between parents and children, between friends—“with age-old love.” Our love needs time to grow, to learn, and to mature. To grow—because this is always something we can improve; to learn—because it is a relationship and we can learn from each other how to love better (or more perfectly); and to mature—because love is first of all a gift of self and the more we give, the more we understand how amazing it is being loved with the age-old love of God.

“A great prophet has arisen in our midst and God has visited his people.” (Gospel Acclamation)