Love Energy

In God's creation, that of the world and all within, there are many different types of energies - gravitational, kinetic, potential, etc. All these energies have been gradually discovered and fitted logically into concepts, theories and formulas over the years of advancement in human intelligence and Scientific progression. The process of "evolution" has been marked by increasing gratification of knowledge revealed to humans with the development of a deeper understanding of our unknown world and its mysteries. 

Yet, there is one other energy that has been in existence from the beginning of time and in fact, from before the "foundation of the world". This energy defies the most logical logic, the most conceptualised concept and the most theorised theory mankind has and will ever discover or develop. It is beyond all possible formulas since it has no measure or maximum value. The Sun is the ultimate direct and indirect source of energy for all living things on earth. Even so, this mysterious energy that Science has failed to encapsulate is the very reason for the existence of the Sun and the energy it emits. This energy is LOVE.

This weekend's Gospel of the Baptism of our Lord explicitly witnesses to the love of God the Father towards His Son, Jesus. The Father acknowledges His Son, His most Beloved, His Chosen One, His most highly favoured. At a more intimate level, it also witnesses to the love of the Father towards us, His children. If the Father loves His Son so dearly and yet, gives to us this Son to be sacrificed for our own redemption, then we, too, have a share in this infinite love of God. This infinite love the Father has for us brought Him to give His dearest gift of His Son. This is beyond human logic, which is formulated by limited human perceptions and confined within the walls of the narrow human heart. 

Love is an energy. It is the energy of a mother allowing her precious night's rest to be disturbed by the cries and needs of her newly born. It is the energy of a priest allowing himself to be woken up at wee hours of the night to rush to the hospital to anoint someone who is dying. It is the energy of a young and promising adult choosing to give up the world's luxuries and pleasures to devote an entire lifetime to serving God in His people. It is the energy of a little girl taking care of her younger sister on that first day of school. It is the energy of a passer-by who makes a detour just to show a tourist the right road to take. Without love as the fundamental energy in these situations, there is absolutely no way anyone can act and live in such selfless and sacrificial ways. 

Love is an energy that needs no words to communicate. It always includes and thus, does not discriminate, be it by level of intelligence, social status, wealth, job designation, race, religion, language spoken and even different amounts of reciprocated love received in return. True love is not conditional to how others treat us but is extended even to those who hate and reject us. Love never excludes since love only leads to unity and not division just as good always begets good.


Like all other energies, the stronger the energy, the greater the effect. The higher the kinetic energy of a skateboarder, the further the distance he will travel with just one kick on his skateboard. Similarly, the greater the love, the more illogical, the more inclusive, the more selfless. We cannot receive all at once all the infinite love of God for us. Our limited human capacity does not have the ability to contain such greatness. But as we increasingly receive into our hearts God's love for us made possible only with an increasing power of our desire (another energy) for God, the more we will open our hearts to allow God's presence to fill it more completely. 

As we reflect on "love" being an "energy", we may like to take up the consideration of how great is the love energy that is in our hearts. And to evaluate if we have stored our love in the container of our hearts similar to a battery's shell. A battery sitting on a shelf is useless until it is connected in a circuit. So, is our love alive, growing, deepening and life-giving to others? How do we want to challenge ourselves in our daily experience to exhaust this love energy in us? A battery, kept in an unused appliance for too long, leaks and is damaged irreversibly. A battery, exhausted, must be recharged to become full of energy again. Once the battery has served its purpose after countless recharging, its battery life comes to an end and it retires. Similarly, our love energy can only be recharged in God who is the One Source and Origin of this energy. When we have served our purpose on earth, and have loved as God has called us to, we reach the end of our life, whatever age we may be at, and we can retire eternally in God's glorious kingdom. 


09 January 2011, Sunday
3.05pm