Oh! Passionate Love!
Jesus said, “I give you a new commandment, that you love one another. Just as I have loved you, you also should love one another” (John 13:34).

Love, a simple word, consists of only four letters, pronounced with one syllable since the e is silent, and yet by nature requires the passionate characteristic.

Love will not last if that love is lukewarm! Sorry to say that! Either we love passionately or we don’t. There is no mediocre or in-between when coming to the hot topic: love. Ardent love or passionate love is what I am talking about…

That’s why, by the sea of Tiberias, in the early morning, after preparing breakfast for his dear disciples and enjoying the meal with them, Jesus suddenly raises his voice three times, “Simon, do you love me?”. He posed this question to the disciple, who once in the courtyard and in front of insignificant people (one of them was actually a servant, a voiceless figure in society) denied three times his relationship with the master for whom he once left everything behind...

You say, “I’m confused. Why is there a need, an urge for posing such a question three times?”.

I say, “Well, who else but Jesus alone would have the answer to such a question…”
Likewise, you academically wonder why Peter denied Jesus three times, and was asked “Do you love me?” also three times… Is there any connection between the two? And why three?

Many more questions regarding this chat between Jesus and Peter you might face if you live longer…

I finally suspect, perhaps because of the passionate love, Jesus asks Peter three times… If Peter does not love Jesus passionately, he can never be willing to die for Jesus’ sheep. So, three times the Lord asks, “Do you love me passionately?”, three times Jesus assigns Peter the mission assignment, “Take care of my sheep, the sheep that I died for and have redeemed through my own blood.”

And by now you must be able to figure out the reason that led to God’s strongly worded command to His people, prior to their entering the promised land, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your might” (Deuteronomy 6:4-5). Can you see?… If the people love God with a lukewarm love, too bad; very quick after entering the land flowing with milk and honey, they will slip away from Adonai, their only God, for the Ba’al, the significant god of the Canaanites and many other gods in that new land. And this history of the Israelites has proved that Adonai has solid reasons for such a fear, and Adonai’s fear finally becomes reality, for the history of the chosen people is also the history of betrayal and infidelity. The book of Hosea, for instance, has proved this unpleasant aspect.

Dear friends,
Many of you keep wondering why I love Alice Springs, a desert town, located in the middle of almost nowhere in Central Australia.

Why?

Why? Very simple!Actually a very simple answer! Because in Alice Springs and its surrounding areas, there is an ethnic group that has dwelt for more than forty thousand years. I mean the Arrernte people. I love them, of course, not with a lukewarm love, but you can guess… a passionate love! This love keeps me going and moving forwards regardless of many difficulties I have encountered in the desert (I have been stationed in Central Australia since April 2009). I have shed tears quite often while facing obstacles on the mission roads; quite frankly, being honest, I thought about giving up, surrendering… What is the point of trying…? Very often I have been on the dusty roads alone for hours, five or six hours to Yuendumu, three to Engawala, four to Harts Range. What if my car slips away from a puddle on the road, then ends up being capsized. When such a misfortunate takes place and I am alone, to whom will I turn for help?… Many “what ifs” come to my mind before I embark on, or while being on a road for, a new mission journey to the remote villages of the Arrernte Catholics. You don’t have to listen attentively, but in a very normal way, you can hear my heart beating when my car is about to enter the gravel, corrugated and arduous road, Tanami Highway to Yuendumu Community, and Plenty Highway to Engawala and Harts Range Village. Yes, I am talking about fear, nervousness, anxiety… I virtually perspire, not because of the heat, but fear. Can you believe it? The muscles in my shoulders, neck and back tense up, for I am intensely focused on the unsealed and dusty road. I nervously hold the steering wheel with both hands. And yet, knowing that at the other end of the journey, as expected, I will see many smiling faces when seeing me, the missionary in the desert, all the fear, nervousness and anxiety, believe it or not, quickly disappear just like the water evaporating under the scorching heat.
That's why I love the Arrernte people passionately.

You say, "I see! Now I can see… Being welcomed by many smiling faces when seeing you at the other end of the journey. That makes you love the Arrernte passionately. Is that all? Nothing else.." I blissfully and confidently nod my head, "Yes, that's all. Nothing more."

Love, a simple word with four letters and one syllable, requires a passionate attitude.

God loves sinful human beings passionately.

That’s why Jesus emptied Himself, to be born in Bethlehem for human benefit.

That’s why Jesus commands his sheep, “You have to love one another, as I have loved you” - passionately.

God loves me and God loves you ardently, passionately. No doubt about that!

But do we love our neighbors and the flock that has been entrusted to our care passionately?

Do we? Do you?

Michael Quang Nguyen, SVD