Hand in Hand: Service & Agape

        Love is more than an emotion; it’s the knowing and being with God – the one source at the root of all lives. As baptized children of Christ when we serve others we have the opportunity to appreciate their worth. Showing a gesture of love is like offering a portion of God. Other people are mirrors of our own love. In solidarity through charity we perceive only love, express only love and by doing so are only love. By being only love we are moving beyond ourselves. “The dignity of the person is the most precious possession of an individual. As a result, the value of one person transcends all the material world” (Christifideles Laici, 37). It is important that as citizens of earth and children of God that we show dignity to others because “in effect the acknowledgment of the personal dignity of every human being demands the respect, the defence and the promotion of the rights of the human person” (Christifideles Laici, 38). Everything is done in, through, and with Christ. We as human beings respond imperfectly to God’s love but According to Joseph Ratzinger (Pope Benedict XVI), “being a Christian [simply] means having love; it means achieving the Copernican revolution in our existence, by which we cease to make ourselves the center of the universe, with everyone else revolving around us.” Anything opposite to the love of God is non-existent.
        Through the love of God we as Christians are able to engage with others, and by that engagement we as Christians our able to give ourselves to others. It is important as children of God we promote justice because when we in solidarity can unite for the good of all we can bring upon peace and human development. Our mission to love and to serve is not just for a few but, for everyone – no matter – race, gender, ethnicity, sexual orientation, and or class status. We cannot think of ourselves as unattached individuals. We need to embrace our call to holiness by constantly trying to build up not tearing down others.
        Ultimately “the point is not that [we] love [our] brothers and sisters for Jesus’ sake, but simply that [we] love [our] brothers and sisters” (Michael Himes, Doing the Truth in Love, 51). And that expression of love – the divine, unconditional, self-sacrificing, active, volitional, and thoughtful love can also be described as Agape. Agape can be seen simply as an intentional response by Christians to promote human well-being in the face of despair and tragedy. Agape is a consuming love that grants us as humans the ability to grow and to experience joy, where “the will of God is agape, constant and perfect and eternal, and it bears all our wills with it” (Michael Himes, Doing the Truth in Love, 56).
        To be able to experience God we need to live out agape because whatever the motive, the issue is to give ourself away as completely, fully and richly as possible. As a baptized daughter of Christ I am concerned with taking care of others and trying to devout my life to serving my brothers and sisters.

photo by: me, Katrina Marie

        One of the many ways I try to live out agape is through the “service project” Relay for Life. Relay for Life is the American Cancer Society’s volunteer-driven cancer fundraising event. Although the main objective of Relay is to raise money for cancer research and cancer patients, the event is held to spread cancer awareness, celebrate the lives of survivors, remember those who lost their lives to cancer, and unite a community in the fight against cancer. I am fortunate to be part of an amazing group of fellow young adults who make up the Colleges Against Cancer (CAC) chapter at the Catholic University of America (CUA). Through CAC, I am able to help initiate and support programs of the American Cancer Society at CUA. I participate with Relay for Life at CUA because I want to make a meaningful difference in the fight against cancer. I want to be able to show love towards those who face adversity because in turn I cannot experience God unless I love my brothers and sisters, and I cannot love my brothers and sisters without experiencing God.
        By choosing to fight for the lives of existing and future patients by voluntarily donating my time and money so the American Cancer Society can continue to find new treatment that fight cancer cells and improve the quality of life for those living with cancer is one of the ways I’m experiencing God. Placing the dignity of others before my own is what Joseph Ratzinger (Pope Benedict XVI) says to be “the sublime and liberating message of love, as being the sole and sufficient content of Christianity.”