English
EspañolDo you really want to love? Be prepared to suffer for your loved ones. Why? Because everything that happens to them, even sorrows and misfortunes, happens to you, you will also be worried and hurt.
Commentary
Those who truly love are aware of having suffered and of having made others suffer. Daily evidence is enough to realize it. Who has not cried for love? Who has not stopped eating or sleeping after a separation, a break-up, an argument? Who, if he loves, is not disturbed by the problems his loved ones face?
In addition, the pain produced by unrequited love, or the love that worries, or the love that is helpless in the face of a beloved´s serious illness…hits us in such a way that we cannot find a manner in which to express it. I am reminded of one of my father´s poems when facing the death of someone close:
“It bends, the illiterate twits,
and it curses when felt unexpressed
how many experiences the mind finds
that do not even exist in words.”
In order for our love to mature, it is necessary to understand that sufferings endured for love are not destructive bitterness. They have the power to make us better, to build us up, to experience that inner peace and hopeful strength that Pope Francis calls the “joy of love.”
The experience of veteran spouses is that, as the years go by, they can forget the relationship´s tough and challenging moments, when both husband and wife have managed to share them, preventing storms from becoming an occasion for the crew to fight, blaming each other. When the sea of life has been weathered together, a joyful background refreshes the memories, enlivens the pleasant moments, illuminates the past and the future.
It has been said that the joy of love has its root in the form of a cross, agreed. In a veteran marriage, we have learned to carry it between us.
