The Consummation of Love

Be dressed for action and have your lamps lit; be like those who are waiting for their master to return from the wedding banquet, so that they may open the door for him as soon as he comes and knocks. Blessed are those slaves whom the master finds alert when he comes; truly I tell you, he will fasten his belt and have them sit down to eat, and he will come and serve them. If he comes during the middle of the night, or near dawn, and finds them so, blessed are those slaves.

                                                                                                                                                   Luke 12:35-38, RSVCE

I was given a very interesting meditation on this Gospel from Tuesday mass this week. When reflecting on it, what seems most immediately obvious is an exhortation to servants to be responsible and be prepared for the master's return. But consider the master, who is Jesus, is returning from his wedding feast, his marriage to the Church; his marriage is an act of sacrifice, a sacrifice that continues after the feast.

There are numerous places in the Gospel that lend themselves to considerations of love and others to sacrifice, but I am finding that they are often connected in subtle ways like the above example. Considering what love looks like in my life and how God is calling me to grow took me back to a conversation earlier in the year when I was speaking to friends about love and sacrifice, and sacrifice rather than pleasure as the consummation of love. It struck me again deeply how these are inseparable. 

It is possible to have pleasure without love; it is not possible to sacrifice without love.