Thursday, February 24, 2011

what does it Mean?

After reading many of my friends' blogs and being totally inspired by them, I've decided to start my own!  So welcome to it - my own little corner for random (if you know me at all, you will know how random I can be!) musings about life, being a Catholic, and being a woman after the Eucharistic heart of Jesus.

So what the heck does worthy of Agape mean?  Why would I choose such a name for my blog?  In truth, it comes from my parents, and ultimately, from God.  My name itself, Latin in root, means "worthy of love" or "worthy to be loved".  In the recent months, I've found so much comfort in hope in my name.  I know there's a running joke about why my parents picked that name - they couldn't agree on how to spell the name they both loved.  One parent wanted Ashley, the other wanted a daughter named Ashleigh.  Since there is pretty much only one way (thank goodness they didn't go with Amanduh) to spell Amanda, it became the name they gave me.  Whenever I doubt that I am worthy, or that I do deserve love, I think of my name.  The name that I've had all my life - its a constant and beautiful reminder that I am worthy of love.  What a beautiful gift from my parents, a life long reminder of my worth in the eyes of God!

In all actuality, I'm not the only one worthy of love - every single human being ever created is just as worthy of love as I am.  Every.  Single.  Human.  Being.  I'm talking about you.  We are all worthy of love, worthy to be loved, worthy to receive such a priceless gift.  So why not just call the blog worthy of love?  The answer is two fold...and at this point, I'm only going to reveal one of those reasons.  Soon, God willing, SOON, the other reason will come to fruition :)  I decided to call the blog worthy of Agape because agape love just means so much more to me.  If you've ever been on a TEC retreat, you'll understand why.  If you've never been on a TEC retreat, for goodness sake, GO!  (www.rockymountaintec.net for those of you anywhere near my great state of Colorado)  Before I attempt to convey what agape love means to me, I'm going to do the cheesy thing and let the dictionaries take a crack at it:

Wikipedia (not a dictionary, but go with it): Agape is one of several Greek words translated into English as love...as the love of God or Christ for mankind.  Many have thought that this word represents divine, unconditional, self-sacrificing, active, volitional, and thoughtful love.

Answers.com: Love as revealed in Jesus, seen as spiritual and selfless and a model for humanity.

Mirriam-Webster dictionary: 1) Love feast.  2) Literally, love.

Dictionary.com: The love of Christians for other people, corresponding to the love of God for humanity.
...actually, that's pretty good.

Agape to me is an unmerited, undeserved, freely given love that washes over all of us, whether we are are aware of it or not.  If I look back on my life, its always been there, but I was never aware of it until I began to understand through the wonder of TEC (a wonder which, though I may try, I will never be able to fully convey, much like the wonder that is God).  Each one of those above definitions has something awesome in it, some kind of way of understanding love that is just amazing...and it even more amazing to think that we are ALL worthy of all of those kinds of love.

You are worthy of the love of God.
You are worthy of unconditional, never failing, self-sacrificing, active love.
You are worthy of intentional love.
You are worthy of the love of Jesus, poured out on the cross, in the sacrifice of the Mass.
You are worthy of selfless love.
You are worthy of a love feast - I love this one, it just makes me smile.  I think of a huge banquet of the finest foods set out before me (and somehow in this scene I imagine, I'm also blessed with an infinitely large stomach, though I don't ever get sick from over-eating, nor do I put on weight).  You are worthy of a feast of love.  What an awesome image.

So to say that you are worthy of love doesn't quite cut it - you are worthy of agape.  But to me it means even more if you capitalize it, if you realize that it comes from above.  You are worthy of Agape.

and so my blogging journey begins and is rooted in Agape - in His love for me, and in His love poured out for you.

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