Love

Holy God, bless those who love. Theologian Karl Rahner points out that loving another human being--really loving them, not just seeing them as a reflection of oneself or a means to an end--is too risky to be wise. People are flawed and finite. Often, they let us down. Always, they die. Either way it hurts. In purely human calculations, love is a bad bet. Rahner says that every time we choose to love another person, it is a leap of faith. Explicitly or implicitly, one who loves affirms that there is a larger truth, a wider meaning-making structure, in which the losses attached to love are swamped by love's greater value. Those who love allow transcendent reality to figure in their calculations. For everyone who takes the risk to love, God grant protection, assurance, comfort, meaning, and a palpable sense of grace. Amen.