Brian’s Reflection: Tuesday, April 24, 2007


Love is like any other luxury. You have no right to it unless you can afford it.

- Anthony Trollope, English novelist, born on this day, 1815


One can only, I have discovered by personal experience, read so much Trollope. (The same with Dickens.) But none the less, I thoroughly enjoyed Trollope, primarily because of the eccentricity of his characters. I try to remember that, essentially, most human beings are characters.

When it comes to Love, I don’t agree it is a luxury. Luxuries are usually limited to a few. Love is unlimited to whomever wishes to give or receive.

Nor do I agree that anyone has no right to Love. It is like saying that a person has no right to breathe. Human life does not exist without Love, not recognizably.

But I do agree that one has to be able to afford it. That is, willing to pay the cost. And the greatest cost is the acceptance of little deaths, until one understands the Mystery Jesus spoke of when He said, “The person who hates her life will gain it”. The death and resurrection of Jesus is an image writ large of the principle St. Paul voiced about followers of Jesus: “We are accounted dead, and yet we live”.

Well, maybe Love is a luxury, in that most of us think we can’t afford the cost. But for the pearl of great price, one sells all.

Brian+