St. Maria Goretti

We hear about “Quality” all the time today. “We Stake our Reputation on our Quality”, a certain watchmaker says. “Quality is Job Number One” was the slogan not so long ago of one of the big automakers. And “Our Quality is unequaled in the Industry” was the motto of a certain plumbing fixtures manufacturer. In ads and commercials, everybody wants us to believe that their product has better quality than anybody else’s product. After all, we like quality. And what gets me is that the quality of everything is stressed, from watches to soup, from cars to computers. Aren’t there just some things that we don’t really care whether or not they are of the highest quality? Like paper towels, for example. How much does quality really matter when you just want to clean the window, and throw the paper towel away? And yet, quality even matters when it comes to the sales of paper towels. Real or perceived, people will pay a lot more for paper towels that they believe are of a higher quality. So what then is quality? Last year, I bought a piece of new electronic equipment from Best Buy. And with electronics, quality is important. So I did a little research. I read up on what I wanted to buy. And I chose to buy the best one that I could afford. The sales person congratulated me on my choice and told me that it was one of the highest quality ones made. I felt really proud of myself for my choice. And then they offered me an extended warrantee for when it breaks down. And I said, “Hey, wait a minute, I thought this thing was high quality and doesn’t that mean that it won’t break down?” “Oh no,” the salesperson said, clearly changing sales modes, “they break all the time and you’ve got to have the extended warrantee.” So much for quality! Maybe we like to talk about quality more than really building it.

Very much like quality, is the notion of love. We talk about love all the time. Love, like quality, even shows up in many of our commercials and ads. We love our Colts. We love our cars. We love ice cream. We love your look. We love your hair. We love you, baby! Sometimes, as much as we talk about love, you would think that we just live in the most loving culture and society that has every existed. We throw that word ‘love’ around a lot today. Have we devalued it? Is love still love, just like quality, when it becomes just another word? My brothers and sisters, this is why Jesus’ new commandment to us in today’s Gospel really is still new. It is because we don’t do it. We can talk about love all the time. But that’s not the same as doing it, is it? We want to be loving. We want to care about others. We want to be nice to everybody, and sit around a campfire together and sing “Kumbaya”, and eat some-mores. You’d think that after two thousand years, that the Church would be able to get this loving one another thing down. Opps! Sometimes it feels next to impossible to love. How do I love that person that stole my newspaper this morning? How do I love that person that just cut in front of me in line? How do I love that person that just fired my spouse, or broke up my marriage, or just insulted my kids, or made fun of my nose? Sometimes, it seems so impossible. And you know, just like with quality, we want a guarantee. We want a promise. We want to make people love us back if we’re going to love them. Doesn’t work that way. It never has. Jesus says “Love one another as I have loved you.” Look at that cross! What we’re talking about here is sacrificial love. You want to love as Jesus did and does? Then you’d better look good on wood with nails in your hands and feet. We are to love as Jesus loves. That’s the way to change things. That’s the way to have Heaven on earth. That’s the way to all get along. Jesus gave us the way, the answer, the secret. You want to have a quality life? Then you must love one another. Notice He didn’t say talk about loving each other. He said to love each other. Jesus used ‘love’ as an active verb. We can’t make it a passive noun.

And Jesus said that was to be the Hallmark of Christianity. They will know that we are Christians by our love, by our love. Yeah, you know the song. But it’s got to be more than a song. How many people know that you are a Catholic Christian by the way that you love? Think about that! And I’m not talking about being nice here. Jesus didn’t say “Be nice to one another”. He said to “love” each other. How can each one of us better do that?

Anybody can claim to be high quality, the truth comes out in how well something works and how long it lasts. And anybody, any church, can claim to love as Jesus does, and the truth always comes out in their actions. What are your actions saying about you? What are our actions saying about us?

May God bless us today and the rest of our Easter season, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit… AMEN !!!

St. Maria Goretti… Pray for us !!!