Gestures of love

“Satisfy us in the morning with your unfailing love that we may sing for joy and be glad all our days.” Psalm 90:14

A mature, healthy person is someone who is filled with love. If we have only one person close to us who loves us, holds us and cares for us, it changes the character of our existence completely. We then experience intimacy, fulfillment, and, in turn, we become caring, loving and responsible beings.

Ofter our anger, our prodigality, our frustrations and our negative emotions are signs that we are in need of care and love. Our immaturity and our sickness are detected in the ways in which we express these negative forms of behaviour. They are superficial and unsuccessful attempts from our side to chase that happiness that we know lies in waiting for us somewhere.

Love expresses itself in many ways. Someone speaks a gentle, caring word that raises us up. We are given a gift that lightens up our day. We are greeted in a such a friendly, quiet way that we experience a different, positive mood. Or, most of all, the physical embrace, the kind touch, the supportive handshake, the pat on the arm or back, the eye that winks, the farewell kiss – all these physical gestures are to us the most certain way of knowing that someone loves us, cares for us and wants us to be fulfilled.

And all of this comes at no price. It is a love that is free, that cannot be bought. Realising how precious these gestures are, it becomes easy for us to hand them out and give them away. Then we need not wait for someone to love us, but we love so that others may be joyful. And this also means avoiding the negative and the harmful, in order not to injure the other. We understand how important it is to break through the vicious circle of hate and retribution.

And in doing so, we represent God among humanity. Each time someone is uplifted because of a concrete sign of love, God is present among us and the power of the Holy Spirit is at work.

So, God gives us the prime example of true happiness: begin to love, so that this world can be truly happy. Do not wait to be loved. In waiting and in holding back, the grip of darkness on our sad world is allowed to become stronger.