Recently a friend of mine died at far too young an age leaving us all quite shattered.  She died in the arms of one of her own sisters who said in the eulogy at her funeral “ As I cradled her head in my arms I told her I loved her, how so many of us loved her.”  Later I reflected how sad it is that sometimes we find those precious words  ‘I love you’ so difficult to say we can leave it until it is  too late.

‘I love you ‘ are the words we all yearn to hear.  Love is the stuff of myth and legend, of the most profound literature, the theme of nearly every opera, classical song  cycle and pop song  It is the core of authentic spirituality, the writings of the mystics and the centre of deep prayer. When is the right time to say “I love you?” Everything is so regulated nowadays.  There are rules and procedures, policies and strategic plans.  Surely we don’t need to organize when to say ‘I love you.’   I need to say it when my heart knows.

I can say I love you in words but also with my body and in what I do. I feel an inward glow when I see a couple in an embrace, parents wrapt with their children and close friends walking with hands linked. Here it’s all intertwined. Remember the wonderful scene in “Fiddler on the Roof” when Tenya sings to his wife “Do you love me?”   while the pragmatic Golder replies;  “Do I what?   For 25 years I’ve cooked your food,  I’ve washed your clothes   etc.  If you don’t call that love, what is?” And still Tenya persists “Do you love me?”

Two faces of love.  As the poet Auden writes”  We must love one another or die” but we need to hear the words too.

“Late have I loved you, O Beauty ever ancient, ever new, late have I loved.”   St. Augustine.

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1 Comment

Paul
Aug 6, 2010 11:43