My friends,  I found myself coming at this homily from several different avenues…On the one hand all the readings for this week are about hope and trust and our God’s great love for each of us.  Those ideas are then butted up against the selfishness that we humans are capable of as we are seeing so much that is good in our country and world upended with the stated purpose of making it all better.  Now while that may be true in part, I see so much more that seems to be about making those “with means,” becoming more so, and those without, as well, becoming more so. 

   Our first reading from the prophet Jeremiah today finds him dealing with the people in his time over apparently the same kinds of behavior—the lowest of what we humans are capable of … Jeremiah says, “do not rely “on the things of the flesh,” basically turning from God.  When you do this, “you are like the bush in the desert with no hope.”  But, he continues, blessed are those who “hope” in God—they are like a tree planted by the river—you will have no worries during a drought—you will never cease, “to bear fruit.”  And apparently our “trust” will not be misplaced when we place it in our God, as Jeremiah continues, “God probes the heart and mind of women and men and knows what we need…”

   So friends, we have the examples of past and present before our eyes, of we humans caring for ourselves, without the balance of caring for others as well, juxtaposed to our country and many areas in the world celebrating Valentines’ Day this past week. 

   Most of us no doubt have at least one person that we shared love and affection for on this traditional “love” day.  Valentines’ Day has somewhat of a sordid past if you go with the pagan stories of how it may have started, but for our purposes here, I choose to uplift the more Christian tradition of remembering St. Valentine, a priest who was executed in the 3^rd Century Roman world for secretly performing marriages for soldiers who were forbidden to marry. 

   There is another story that I somewhat like about a priest named Valentine who was imprisoned and subsequently fell in love with a female visitor, and before he was executed sent her a note which said, “Love from your Valentine,” and I guess, as they say, “the rest is history.” 

   So, what does this all have to do with today’s Scriptures, you may ask…perhaps nothing if we simply stay on the surface “of the story” which as you know, I always advise against.  By “breaking open” the Word, and going “to our hearts,” we Christians have a much greater chance of truly “walking in Jesus’ footsteps.”

   Continuing then to look at today’s readings, we see Paul in his letter to the people of Corinth saying that, “in Jesus, [the] Christ, we [should] place our hope.” And remember that this comes from someone who never met Jesus in his life; but whatever happened on that fateful day when he was “knocked off his horse,” turned him from a “killer” of Christians, into someone who spent the rest of his life attempting to bring people to Jesus.

    In Luke’s gospel for today, reality comes through Jesus’ words to his faithful followers, and this includes us, “this loving” that I am asking you to do will not always be easy—and in fact, you will “suffer in my name,” for attempting to care for the least among you, for “speaking the truth “ to those who don’t want to hear it—but in the suffering, our brother Jesus says, “you will be blessed.”  Jesus has equally strong words for those who are unwilling “to play nice” in this world—“woe to you who enjoy fame and power now”—[you have had your reward!]

   This reminds me of one of our own, Bob Kierlin, philanthropist, founder and CEO of Fastenal Company for many years, who died this past week.  Now while I probably didn’t agree with all his personal values, much of what he did believe and practice in his business life, I do agree with:  treat everyone as your equal, stay out of the spotlight, share the rewards, see the unique humanness in all people, develop empathy, suppress your ego, let people learn, and remember how little you know.  Too bad that all who claim to be “great businessmen” don’t believe the same!

   So my friends, as we think on the Beatitudes today, and all that makes us “blessed,” I lift up another of our own, Michael Maher, who three years ago we were praying for as he lay in a comma from an accident while caring for others—he unfortunately had to leave us, but his memory of goodness toward others lives on. 

   Earlier I mentioned that we as Jesus’ followers must, “break open the Scriptures” to get to the true message Jesus intended for us. Once we have that message, we must then lay it upon our hearts in order that they may be “broken open” too, because that is what “true love” is about—breaking open our hearts for others.  When Jesus was with us, he spoke about the need of us having “hearts of flesh, not stone.”  And when our hearts are open, it is much easier to see the world and its people as “holy” and treat all life with great respect. 

   And yet, “love” can be illusive—how do we ever really know if “what we are about” is love, and not something else?  For myself, if my actions, for the most part, bring good and not bad, then I have more assurance that I am on the right track. 

   But because we all love a good story, I raise up for us that of Tevye and Golda in The Fiddler on the Roof, as a way to explainthis thing we call, “love.”  Tevye has a burning question for his wife of 25 years—“Golda, do you love me?”  And Golda thinks her husband is probably “disturbed,” and rather than answering directly, she ticks off the tasks she has done over those 25 years; cleaning, cooking, giving him children, and so on… But he persists, because he wants to hear her say the words—“but Golda, do you love me?” –to which she finally answers—“after all that I’ve done, I guess I do!”

   And in conclusion friends, Jesus’ time among us was about having us, “get it,” that what we are here for, “is to love”—we know that because he told us so in many simple, yet profound stories, those of The Prodigal, the Good Shepherd, the Good Samaritan, and others—all stories ultimately about love.  His whole personal life was about, “breaking his heart open” for us, and we, in return, must do the same.  Amen? Amen!