Love Without Hope. But Love Anyway.

Hi all,

We just had our visit to Blue Cross, Pelangi Village today. It's a home that houses male residents that have varying degrees of mental disability.

The visit was challenging, as it forced us to step out of our comfort zone to reach out to them, but ultimately the whole experience was both humbling and rewarding.

Anyway I want to share something that I shared after the visit, for the benefit of those who couldn't make it. After the activities with the residents, we retreated to a corner where we had some reflections. Brother Alphonsus read a passage from 1 Corinthians Chapter 13 (The famous chapter that you hear in a lot wedding masses, because it speaks about love ;-)) The last line of the chapter goes:

So faith, hope, love remain, these three; but the greatest of these is love.

This got me to think about love, hope and faith being seperate entities and how love was the greatest among these three. I was thinking about hope and love. Can we love without hope?

Looking at the residents, I realize that perhaps hope is not something that is in abundance among them. (I think) Very few of them actually get better and go out to integrate with society. Those that actually do are the lucky ones, most of them are quite old and will probably spend the rest of their days in the home. Hope for them to recover is something quite difficult to conceive.

Looking specifically at our visit that day, we just merely spent a few hours with them to talk to them, sing for them and to play some simple games. These can't hardly have much of an impact to them or to their mental health, what can a few hours do that will help them get better? The hope for them to get better just because our brief visit is quite pointless.

Yet we can still love without hope. We can still do things for them out of love, show our care and concern for them, bring some joy in their lives. Love is still real, strong and concrete without the presence of hope for them to get better. Our loving actions still touch them in some way and brings comfort to them. We love not for the sake of hope but love for love's sake.

It's something like stories you hear about someone caring for his spouse, even though the spouse can no longer recognize the care giver due to sickness or old age. Or how the destitute and dying are taken care of even though they have no hope of recovery. Love is shown onto them even when hope has long since walked out the door.

It is difficult, but it can be done, and it must be done because we all have been loved first by God.

Love without hope. but love anyway.

Just my thoughts.

// Dan