Universalis, your very own breviary in pixels...

Wednesday 23 December 2009

"Defenceless Love"

Isn't that a beautiful phrase?

It's from the Holy Father's catechesis on the subject of Christmas.

It is all the more wondrous since of course He wasn't defenseless, He was All Mighty, He chose not to defend Himself, in any way, from His appearance as an Infant in a manger to His death, a Lamb led to slaughter.

No defense, no resistance.

Wonderful!

There is a cliche, (from advertisement for a movie? the book on which it was based? not sure,) that spawned a million catch phrases, "Love means never having to.... [fill in the verb.]"

The original is a lie -- never needing to apologize? that's not love, that's presumption.
The truth would not have been so catchy, Love means being willing to forgive, and still loving despite the object of one's love not having said he's sor-- you see the difficulty, a trifle unwieldy for a poster.

But mightn't this be true, that Love is, (not never having, but,) never choosing to defend yourself? Opening yourself, submitting?

God Omnipotent made Himself defenseless.
Utterly vulnerable.

What Love!

No comments: