Let’s start the New Year with a song of joy in our hearts
The Universe
(January 01, 2006)
We think of Christmas as an end of year celebration but it is really the beginning of something new. New Year is about resolutions and reforming our lives.
Christ showed us the spirit of giving, loving without seeking reward, finding joy in self-sacrifice, and helping those who can’t help us. What greater love is there, he asked?
All over the world there are wonderful people giving their lives in service even to the point of death for their belief in the dignity of the poor and there rights. This is the living example of the unselfish love that Jesus taught us.
Sr Dorothy Stang, a 74-year-old American nun, is one extraordinary example. She gave her life to serving the poor of the Amazonian region, in Para, Northern Brazil. She was shot dead by two gunmen last February because she was so effective in inspiring poor farmers to take a stand for their land rights.
A few years ago, a young girl forced into prostitution and rescued through a recovery programme found a new meaningful life. Today she is a social worker helping other abused and exploited children. Her story inspired me to write a song, called Love is Giving, Not Taking, sung by children at the Preda Children Center, here in the Philippines:
You tell me that you love me and call me to your
side,
You want to hold and touch me,
Yet never as your bride,
There must be more to love that satisfying a need,
From all that kind of selfish love,
I am longing to be freed.
Chorus: Love is giving and not taking
It’s sharing night and day
It’s helping others heart and soul
And asking no repay
Love is giving and not taking,
It’s sharing heart and soul,
It’s dying for another
Is there any higher goal?
No more for me romantic love,
I have to pass it by,
Loving all humanity is what I want to try.
Chorus: Love…
The street kids and the beaten,
The victims of abuse,
I will love them all instead of you,
So my life will be of use.
So now my friend I say good bye,
Another age is here,
Calling us to change our ways and put an end to fear,
So join me on my journey,
Leave behind your troubled days,
Perhaps together we can learn to love,
In many other ways.
Chorus: Love…
So here I am with the hungry and the poor,
In the jungles of the Congo and the desert of Darfur,
In the city slums, the prisons and the camps,
With the starving children and their parents filled with grief,
I’m meeting Love personified in those who bring relief.
Chorus: Love…
[End]
