Afterwards Jesus himself, through [the Apostles], sent forth from east to west the sacred and imperishable proclamation of eternal salvation. Amen.

"You're the only one I ever believed in, the answer that could never be found, the moment you decided to let love in. Now I'm banging on the door of an angel, the end of fear is where we begin, the moment we decided to let love in. There's nothing we can do about the things we have to do without, the only way to feel again is let love in."  

In the Goo Goo Dolls' song "Let Love In," two people had a relationship that was full of doubt and uncertainty, as every romantic involvement is, especially in the early days of discovering love. Then "real love" comes into the situation, and their relationship changes.

Mark's Gospel has different endings because there are manuscripts from which the Gospel is taken that end differently. Consequently, most Bibles have chosen to record the different endings as part of the Gospel of Mark. In the passage known as the "shorter ending," the evangelist simply reports that the Apostles sent forth Jesus' "sacred and imperishable proclamation of eternal salvation" to the whole world. Such a proclamation of salvation, as Jesus said many times in the Gospels was nothing more or less than the doctrine of love. In effect, Jesus has told us through the Gospels that when a person lets love into any situation, the situation will change for the better.
         
It is a true statement. Take a family crisis, for example, a divorce or a falling out among family members. What would happen if suddenly everyone involved in the crisis would let love in, that is, allow the virtue of love of each other to completely rule their lives? Things may not change completely, but if all the members of a bad situation would let love in, they would begin to behave differently, and literally begin to see the situation a little differently so much so that things would get better.

The only way to help situations in which we find ourselves in this world, the only way to make them better is to allow love to be part of that situation as the couple did in the song "Let Love In." The challenge to believers is to try to allow such a teaching to come to life in every circumstance in which they find themselves.                            

THOUGHT
 
PRAYER

Good and gracious God, your Son gave us the sacred and imperishable doctrine of love as the means of our salvation. Help us choose that doctrine to be the true guide of our lives. Be with us, we pray.

Questions, comments? Let me know. Email Fr. Mike

©2007 Capuchin Province of Mid-America
Fr. Mike Scully is a member of the Capuchin Province of Mid-America