By Jim Hagarty
2018
God gave me a brain and the thing I like most to do with it is think. I have been told I think too much. I wonder if that is possible.
I am close to finishing watching a wonderful TV series (in my view, in any case) entitled When Calls the Heart. And I have been thinking about why I have found this show so appealing. After some thought, I have come to the conclusion that the reason I like it so much is because there are three central themes running through it that resonate with me.
The first theme is the notion that we are exactly where we are meant to be at any given moment in our lives, though the reason we are in that place may only become clear to us in time. There is a purpose to everything.
The second theme, as far as I can see, is the belief in second chances. When I was a young man, I fell seriously ill. And I felt I had made a complete mess of my life in the 24 years I had lived it. But I was given a second chance and I was somehow able to take it. That is the only reason I am here to write these words today.
The other theme of When Calls the Heart revolves around the power of love. I am alive because of that power, and more than just existing, I am fulfilled and content. The power of love is so awesome as to be almost frightening. There is no greater power in the universe. I was overwhelmed by it in my hour of need, by stranger as well as friend, and I was put back together again.
There is nothing that can resist the restorative magic of love. Unconditional love will always bring the wilted flower back to life. Love works on all beings, human and non-human. No tidal wave, no hurricane, no earthquake is stronger than love. Everyone wants it and everyone deserves it, no matter the state to which they might have fallen.
Love is infused in every inanimate object around us, from a fine kitchen cupboard or table, to a carefully designed and constructed bridge, to a wonderful piece of music or intriguing novel, and to a simple TV show such as When Calls the Heart which reminds one grateful viewer that God is love, that love conquers all, and that love is the only reason any one of us was ever presented with the gift of life.
My heart has been calling all my life. Others have heard that call and answered it. The only two words that matter to me these days are, “Thank you.”
P.S.
In my little sermon above on the power of love (the Pope called me to express his thanks and asked if he could use it in his next Papal Bull and I thought that maybe bull is the right word to describe my homily so I told him to go ahead), I wrote, “Everyone deserves love.” That isn’t quite right. Any love that goes only to the deserving is not love at all. There are conditions attached to it. What fuels the power of love and makes it such an awesome force in the universe is that it is available to the “undeserving” as well. What I should have written was, “Love without limit is available to every living creature, no qualifications considered.” Not easy to do, but that is The Assignment. The word “lovable” is a suspicious one. By using it, we imply there are those who are “unlovable”, in other words, lost causes. People can be, and often are, impossible to like. But if we know of anyone who is unlovable, we are doing it wrong. And if we can’t actively love someone, a person we think of as an enemy perhaps, the very least we can do is not add to his burdens by expressing our disdain. In silence, there is also love.
