A Love Like That
May 5, 2005Three Sundays ago when I was about to hear mass, I experienced one of the most touching moments of my life.
There I was, a tad too early for the 5:00 p.m. mass waiting for the 4:00 p.m. mass to end before I sit down. Suddenly, someone who was waiting in line to receive communion caught my attention. It was a male tramp, all dirty with something big perched on his shoulders. Since I wasn’t wearing neither my eyeglasses nor my contact lens then, I wasn’t sure what it was. When he turned around to get back to his seat, I was dumbfounded. What was on his shoulders wasn’t exactly a what. It was a who! He was carrying his wife, who I assumed, couldn’t walk on her own. She seemed invalid to me then.
When the man reached his seat, what he did touched me. He seated his wife beside him and ever so slowly, he put her head on his shoulders. With his arms around her shoulders, he prayed and wept.
By that time, I was already on my seat in front of the church. Still, I kept looking in their direction. I saw that many people gave alms to the couple. The wife, who couldn’t move her feet, had her arms around her husband. The husband, on the other hand, was crying.
That was when I feel down on my knees, prayed and wept on my own. I couldn’t help but think how much love the husband has for his wife. I envied the wife so much. Once, I thought I had a love like that, unconditional and pure. Once I thought I’d see myself spending the rest of my life with someone like that man. Needless to say, I crashed back to the ground seven years after my fantasy.
It’s a love like that that I long to have. Yes I am in a relationship right now. But it is still too early to tell whether what I have with the person I am with right now can compare to what I saw. It is a love like that that I asked in prayer. I know He will give me whatever He knows is good for me. I just hope that love is one of them.
And so I wait.
