Love is the only way

My great aunt Lizzie had a hard life. She was rejected by her family in the 1890s because she had a child outside marriage. She eventually married a man called John Sloan Barclay and they settled in Bootle. Lizzie gave birth to six daughters, one of whom died at the age of 10. The five girls who were left were all diagnosed with mental-health issues and so home life was hard.

Lizzie hardly ever got any time to herself. One day a neighbour found her crying on the front step and told her to go and put on her best hat and coat and go into town. Lizzie went and began to wander down Bold Street. John Sloan Barclay was very generous, and one thing Lizzie did not lack was money. She decided a new pair of shoes was the order of the day, so she went into a shoe shop and began to look around.

He would repeat three times: ‘O Sacrament most Holy, O Sacrament Divine, all praise and all thanksgiving be every moment thine.’

He always expressed his thanks that he was in no pain or discomfort. He talked calmly about his funeral arrangements and the disposal of his belongings. He never complained. A small group of devoted friends ensured constant support. When he could no longer play cards on Fridays at the Columba club, his partners ensured that he continued to play Canasta at home. Brendan’s sharp mind enabled him to beat his friends to the very end.

On the Saturday afternoon before he died, I celebrated Mass at his bedside. He wore his priestly stole so that he could concelebrate the Mass. Drifting in and out of consciousness, his lips moved with the sacred words. He received a small piece of the Sacred Host and sipped the Precious Blood before sinking back into his pillow. The following day he encouraged those around him with the words of Saint Paul: ‘I want you to be happy, always happy in the Lord; I repeat, what I want is your happiness’ (Philippians 4:4). On the Monday his friends recited the Prayers for the Dying. Within 15 minutes he had gone to God. May he rest in peace.

A little boy aged about 10 was standing outside the shop, peering through the window. He was a typical Liverpool street urchin – barefoot, coatless, and blue with the cold of a dank November day. Lizzie noticed him and was moved with what I would call compassion. She stepped out of the shop and took the boy back in. She asked the shocked assistant to get half a dozen pairs of socks for the boy. Lizzie then bought him a pair of shoes. Lizzie left that shop having bought herself a new pair of shoes and found a new song in her heart. She left behind a very surprised assistant and a delighted little boy.

We are to love, because God has first loved us. We are to allow the lavish love we have received to pour out from us in word and action that makes a radical difference in the world we live in. When you read Matthew’s Gospel, which is the Gospel we’re reading in church on a Sunday, you discover in it an invitation to radically follow Jesus because of love.

It is in this Gospel that we have the beatitudes and the invitation not to judge, but to love our enemies and do good to those who hurt us. These are hugely radical demands but we can respond because God has first loved us.

I think it is so hard for most of us to believe in a God whose justice is, in fact, unconditional love. We are much more comfortable with having to earn love. We do not know what to do with a God who breaks the rules and loves everyone without exception. We certainly do not know what to do with the invitation for us to do the same for others.

Matthew’s Jesus invites us to open our hearts to this God and then to follow, knowing that we can trust God with our lives, whatever may be thrown at us.

Father Chris Thomas