Journal of Sacred Work

Our task is to become aware of God’s presence…We are called to see differently and then to live differently.   – Sallie McFague, Ph.D, Life Abundant

   Why is it that some caregivers seem to have such a genius for caregiving? Could it be that, as Dr. McFague says, they have learned to see differently and, therefore, they live differently?

   The best definition of God I have ever seen is the one offered by both the apostles Paul and John. God is love. The latest polls show that over ninety percent of Americans say they believe in God. Yet if they were asked if they believed in love, perhaps the percentage would be even higher…

   Dr. McFague says that "we are instruments of divine love" and, since "We were created in God’s image, in the image of love, our goal is to grow more fully into that image by loving each other and the world in concrete ways."  Those who have learned to let God’s love flow through them are the ones in whom we see this genius gift of caregiving. Perhaps they have done nothing more than get out of the way so that love can flow through them.

   But what about the rest of us? If we are having trouble loving, it might be because we fight love instead of surrending to it. We fall victim to the original sin – Pride. In so doing, we pit our limited strength against Love’s unlimited power.

   Mozart, one of the most widely acknowledged geniuses in history, claimed that he was only a scribe, writing down the music that flowed through him. "Love, love, love," he said. "That is the soul of genius." An astonishing footnote to his genius is that his music manuscripts remain almost entirely free of corrections. He simply wrote down what he heard.

   It requires a great deal of courage and commitment for us to peel away all the layers of noise around us so that we can hear the voice of love and do love’s biding. So many cross currents confuse our pathway. Our challenge, as Dr. McFague says so well, is to learn how to see differently and then to live differently. This means, in caregiving, letting of self and replacing self with other. It means learning to see the other and ourselves with sacred eyes. For, as children of God, we are children of Love.

   Each of us needs to travel our own inner pathway toward this truth. Why? Because the voyage to God leads to Love.