I was recently reading an article about the real aspects of true love. The psychologist writing the piece said that many people hide behind the words “I love you.” They can start believing that if they say it enough times, it simply becomes true.
Jesus claimed that the world would know his disciples by the fact that they loved one another. In the Church, we speak of loving one another quite frequently. I hope that someone can tell that I am a disciple of Jesus by the way I love others. However, that hope is something I have to keep in the center of my mind because I fear too often that I speak more of love than act out of love.
As Christians, we can find ourselves hiding behind our words. History, unfortunately, has shown us that our witness of action has not always been profound enough. The world will surely know whom it is we serve if we love like Jesus, we act like Jesus, and we serve others like Jesus. Our stewardship will bear witness to the transforming power of Jesus Christ, and we will bring others to him. Our love will be an instrument of our evangelization. Our words will become true, not because we said them enough, but because they are true.
Tracy Earl Welliver is a Catholic author, speaker, consultant, and Gallup-certified Strengths coach with over 25 years experience in parish ministry. He is currently the Director of Parish Community and Engagement for LPI, having previously served for 22 years as Pastoral Associate at Saint Pius X Catholic Church in Greensboro, NC. Tracy also currently sits on the ICSC Board of Directors. He has a BA in theology from DeSales University and a MTS from Duke Divinity School. Tracy has been married to his wife, Mariann, for 27 years and they have 3 children.