Reckless Love

“Even the hairs of your head have all been counted. Do not be afraid.”
—Luke 12:7

Today is the feast of St. Callistus, one of the early popes. Most of what we know of Callistus comes from his enemies, who criticized him for what they perceived to be his excessive forgiveness toward sinners. They attacked Callistus for, among other things, admitting adulterers and fornicators to communion after they had done penance and for allowing men who had been married and divorced (sometimes multiple times) to become deacons and priests.

In an increasingly fundamentalist religious climate, perhaps Callistus is a patron for our age. He reflects Jesus’ ministry to the outcastes and those whom conventional society wants to write off as unredeemable. The miracle of the Christian message is that regardless of the mess we may have created in our lives, we are nevertheless redeemed. In fact, its sometimes through that very brokenness that our wholeness is revealed.

According to Bishop John Shelby Spong, the key message of Jesus’ teaching was to “love recklessly.” May today be a day of reckless love for us all.