Shameless Lover

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Love is the most radical virtue that one ought to possess. What do you think is more interesting in Christianity if not the absolute radical love exhibited by that carpenter which eventually turned the world topsy-turvy? Such is the power of love; it could bring massive Empires to their knees and history (both biblical and secular) corroborates this fact. Love is the most subversive attribute we could use for God for I John 4: 7 states “Whoever does not love does not know God.”

Jesus the Christ was a ‘Shameless Lover’. He shamelessly loved the lepers; he shamelessly dined with the ‘sinners’; he shamelessly associated himself with the outcastes; he even shamelessly loved his crucifiers. Jesus shamelessly expressed his love fearing none. His shameless love was so erotic that even the Church could not resist qualifying herself as the Bride of this ‘Shameless Lover’. She could not stop there but she went further to include the most erotic love poem ‘Song of Songs’ in the Scripture making Bible the most romantic book in the world.  

The expression of love is not an easy task especially in India where the public morality constantly endeavours to make our expression of love ‘decent’. It was quite a bizarre when Kerala, the state with the highest rate of literacy – known for proudly relishing in the elegy of Changampuzha’s ‘Ramanan’ (testament of romantic love) – found one of its cities suspending two school students - a girl and a boy - just for hugging. They claimed that the act was ‘indecent’. If I may ask – Who has the authority to decide the yardsticks of decency?  Our private spaces should not be allowed to be invaded and eroded. Moreover Love should be expressed unabashed. Unexpressed love is like a non-flowing stream of water – It stinks.

Today is Valentine’s day; the day of Love. In the pretense of illusionary promises and fancy gifts the relevance of this day is usually submerged. Valentine’s day is celebrated in commemoration of St. Valentine, the Roman Priest who lived and died for the sake of love during the reign of Emperor Claudius. St. Valentine was executed for secretly uniting men and women in marriage in defiance of the Edict of the Emperor who believed that marriage would weaken the morale of his soldiers. What inevitably struck me about St. Valentine was that he was a Priest with a moist heart something which our contemporary Priests seem to have lost.  Catherine Doherty remarks “The heart of a priest should be a vessel of compassion, a chalice of love, the trysting place of Divine and human love.”

Lent is a time to mend broken relationships and ‘love’ undoubtedly is the medicine. My mother usually says “Son, relationships should be allowed to survive on the thread of love than the chain of complexities.” This Lent and especially today let us search for our lost love. It could be anyone. Find them and embrace them because sustaining relationships should not be sacrificed for transient emotions. Be shameless like Christ in expressing your love.

I conclude with my own poem ‘Unloved Love’ where I imagine a boy mourning to express his love for HER.

I never noticed HER but in my solitude SHE found me;
My heart which never knew to value relationships felt caressed by HER presence;
My tears which were so adamant not to come out bled profusely in HER memories;
My eyes which never found solace in anything now seemed to exist only to see HER;
My lips which hated speaking never wanted to be concealed while conversing with HER;
HER fragrance would revive all the cells of my body;
HER touch refreshed my skin; I would be reborn anew every moment I spent with HER;
It was no more gravity that held me onto Earth but HER existence;
SHE broke my numbness towards life and the world;
SHE gave me reasons to smile, cry, pray and fast;
I felt SHE breathing through me;
SHE drenched me with an ocean of love while I could not give HER even a drop;
HER words nourished my soul while my silence pierced HER;
SHE expressed HER love unabashed while I could not even share with HER my grievances;
Now I wish to cry so that my tears could wash HER feet;
My soul craves to dissolve in HER;
My Being desires to relish in HER;
This relationship does not have the burden of a name;
SHE has been everything to me; a compassionate mother, a loving sister, a sincere friend, a loyal soulmate but above all SHE continues to be my inspiration to LIVE and not just survive;
SHE is my unknown self in another body;
What may I call HER? As SHE is ME;
Oh God, I confess that I love HER abundantly;
I pray that you preserve this relationship eternally;
Even if one of us die let the charm of this relationship inspire the heartbeats of the alive;
If the epitome of love is sacrifice then O God bless us as
I live in HER and SHE in ME.

Let us pray
Loving God, inspire us to seek our love(s) and love them shamelessly for whoever does not love does not know you. For Christ's sake we pray. Amen

 Prayers
Dn. Basil Paul



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