Videte qualem Caritatem dedit nobis Pater!

Sitting in my dorm room is a Madonna and Child statue. It's not particularly nice, as far as statues go. It isn't made of anything special, and while decently-sculpted, it lacks detail in some respects. I bought it from a thrift store, so it's ever so slightly damaged. I admit that the Christ-Child is missing a toe or two. But see, I wasn't really interested in an image of Christ with His mother getting any more damaged at that secondhand store, so it became mine.

At the base of the statue, part of a verse from the First Epistle of John is inscribed:

See what love the Father has given us
1 John 3:1

John was definitely into God's love, and out of the Evangelists he seemed to be the most aware of Christ's divinity. In his Gospel, he refers to himself as "the disciple whom Jesus loved" (Jn 13:23). Both this verse and the aforementioned one in Greek refer to agape, a self-sacrificing and unconditional love that is distinct from philia (brotherly love, though John will refer to this, as well) and eros (erotic love). Agape is one of those need-to-know concepts that shows up in the Bible and other Christian writings. I imagine that if all men and women lived their lives with perfect, unconditional love, then the Big Guy would be satisfied with us.

So why is this fraction of a verse on the statue? It's a bit odd if you know the rest of the verse and onwards. In fact, it's a good bit out of context, since there's nothing in the rest of the passage about Mary and Jesus. But as a phrase in and of itself, it seemed so fitting.

Consider the relationship between Mary and Jesus. Each has a two-fold relationship with the other, because each is fulfilling two roles for the other. Mary is the best example of someone who loves God without hesitancy simply because He is her God, but she is also a loving mother. Jesus Christ, in turn, is both the all-merciful God who loves her right back, as well as a son who simply loves his mother. To me, this is perhaps one of the most beautiful images in all of creation. Unconditional, self-sacrificing love between Creator and creation (the summit of our Christian Journey) alongside and intertwined with the unconditional love between a mother and her child. Love cyclically and ceaselessly begetting love. That is the beauty of the Incarnation. What love the Father has given us.

We often seek to follow Christ as an example for living, or the Blessed Virgin Mary. But it is important to remember the example they set in conjunction with one another. Imagine if we loved each other as they did. Imagine Paradise. But few of us love even one other person that much. Is that not a humbling thought? It really makes a Christian realize how far he has to go on his Journey, if he can't even love a single other human being with anything close to the love between Christ and Mary. Don't get me wrong, it's a tall order, and we won't likely get it perfect until we're long gone, but God doesn't ask for the impossible, He just asks us to try out best. Think how much better our world would be if we each had some sense of the love the Father gave us in the image of the Blessed Mother and Holy Child. Then try your best, with Christ at your side, to go out and make that world.