The experience of love.

Being male or female is one of the central pivots of human life. Our sexuality is inscribed in our very being and, the discovery of the special attributes, properties and tasks linked with our masculinity or femininity happens in a radical way in the experience of love. The experience of love, beyond all other experiences, is the one which demands to be integrated into the whole plan of life which we create for ourselves.

The experience of love is an experience in which we discover and come know another person and in which we come to know ourselves in a new way. Moreover, the experience of love is a call to greatness; from the outset, we have a sense of love being a great treasure which must not be disfigured, and you intuit that love is causing a great good to arise in you and between you. Be convinced that this call comes from God, indeed, it flows from the Gospel. You are called to see God who is love.

“Blessed are the pure of heart, for they shall see God.” (Matthew 5:8)

So, when you fall in love do not break off your conversation with Christ. You are at a very important time in your life and you need to commit yourself even more to him. When Christ says “Follow me”, his call can mean “I call you to still another love”; but very often it means: become the bridegroom of your bride, become the bride of your spouse. Become sharers in marriage, the Sacrament of the mystery of Christ’s love for his Church.

Love is indeed the great event of your heart, a matter that exists only in you and between you. The flourishing of love will depend on the way in which you follow Christ. Be convinced that your love is not simply a personal matter but finds its fullness outside of you in God. Indeed, the very mystery of your person has its origin in God and is rooted in Christ. Love is not given to us ready made, it has to be nurtured. We have the capacity to love but it is Christ alone who enables husbands and wives to give themselves to each other in the full measure of their own personal dignity. Christ teaches us married love. 

If you are going to set out towards the vocation to married life, then you must begin to cultivate love day by day. St Paul’s describes love as patient, kind, forgiving, rejoicing in the truth, enduring (1 Cor 13: 4 – 7). This is precisely the kind of love that you need if your married love is going to pass the test of the whole of life. It is to this kind of love that you must aim your lives. This is a great adventure for you, and it is also a great task.

To a large extent the future of humanity is decided upon the path of love and we should constantly ask Christ and the Mother of Fair love to bring real love to birth in young hearts. Today in many circles attempts are being made to impose on environments and even whole societies a model of love which calls itself “progressive” and “modern”. This model transforms people, and especially women, into objects of pleasure and takes away or distorts the power of procreation. These distortions strip love of its profoundly human content which from the beginning was permeated by a divine mark and reflection.

Dear young friends, do not allow this treasure to be taken away from you! Do not inscribe in your plan of life a deformed, impoverished and falsified love. Love rejoices in the truth. Seek out this truth where it is really to be found. Be resolved to go against the prevailing culture. Do not be afraid of the kind of love that places demands upon people. It is these demands, found in the constant teaching of the Church, which will make your love a true love. In this matter, above all others, be prepared to make a defence to any one who calls you to account for the hope that is in you.

The Church and humanity entrust to you the reality of love which is the basis of marriage, the family and the future. For they firmly believe that you will make love beautiful, great, mature, responsible.