In the 1960s Tommy Smothers complained to his brother Dick that their mom always liked Dickie best. The comedy continues:
Tommy: You had a dog.
Dickie: You had your pet chicken…
Tommy: They don’t bark good.
Dickie: You had a wagon.
Tommy: One wheel…
Tommy: We played together…once every three or four months…
Dick: You should have kept that chicken away from my dog.
Tommy: My chicken killed his dog.
In a homily “Unequal Parts” Father Brendan McGuire reflects on his mother’s funeral and the love his parents had for their 12 children. He describes the wonderful funeral procession leaving the church:
“I was the fi rst one, the youngest…my brother, the eldest, and my two sisters would be at the back of the casket; then my eight other brothers four on either side would carry Mom on their shoulders and that is how we left the church. It was a very powerful moment as we walked her out of the church bound together in love.
“That night, we celebrated and it was a great day. In contrast to that, the next day, the will was read.” Does God have favourites?
Their mom had divided the estate into unequal parts. The unity quickly disappeared as the siblings tried to puzzle it out. The question came up: “Who did she love the most?”
“Well-I’m the youngest - and I’m a priest! C’mon! Isn’t it obvious?”
“In the end, the conversation came to a grinding halt when one of my elder brothers remembered what our parents… responded…when they were asked, ‘Which of your children do you love the most?’ And he recalled, and I remember it myself as well; they said, ‘Whichever one needs it.’”
Brendan recalls that his mom didn’t love anyone less; she loved everyone equally, but she loved those who needed it a little more.
God loves us all equally, but God has more love for those who need it; those who are hurting; those who have pain and have struggled; those who have suffered loss of a loved one.
He gives us the love we need at those painful moments.
Sister Pat McCormack, in a retreat said, “There is nothing I can do that can make God love me anymore than He already does and there is nothing I can do to make God love me any less than He already does.
“God loves us all because He created us. Without condition,He loves us completely. If there is going to be a little extra dose of love, God gives it to those who are on the periphery, as our Pope Francis says. Those ones who are hurting; those who are disenfranchised; the poor; the homeless; the weak; the broken; the sick. Yes these God loves just a little bit more because they need it. So we are called to mirror that in our own lives.”
McGuire tells us we are called “to love everyone but to love those who need it the most a little bit more.” He continues, “often times those people in our lives who are hurting push us away and they do not allow us to love them.”
But “we have to continue to love them even at a distance. And communicate as best we can that we continue to love them and nothing has changed.” And McGuire challenges us: “Who today in our lives needs love the most? And can we love them as Jesus commanded?”
What makes love possible is that God loved us even before we loved Him (1 John 4:10).
