Love makes people do crazy things. St. Paul willingly suffers for the Ephesians because he loves them and desires to build them up. But St. Paul’s sufferings are mere child’s play compared to the craziest and most wild act of love ever.
I speak, of course, of the Cross. Tomorrow we celebrate the Exaltation of the Cross. Why? We can easily say St. Paul’s words again: “do not be disheartened by my tribulations for you, for they are your glory.” God’s infinitely incomprehensible love means that the Cross is nothing to Him if that is needed to show us His love. Would a good husband not suffer - even to the point of death - for his wife and children? Would a good mother not give all for her children? How much more, then, would God, in his love, not give for us?
Humility can be defined in many ways. But in the context of love, its meaning becomes clear. It means I am willing to serve those I love in any way to bring about their good, no matter who I am. The God of the Universe humbled himself to become man so that he might further humble himself through suffering and death, and so His name is exalted above all names, demanding every knee in heaven, on earth, and under the earth to bend at its confession as Lord.
Do we have the courage to love like this? To humble ourselves before others so they might reach Heaven? To suffer for our neighbor out of love? To see all these things as nothing, because we accomplish all these things through Christ, who loves us and humbles himself to suffer for us, to die for us, and to live within us.