What is love? Here’s one answer: “What is Love? Five feet of heaven in a ponytail. Five feet of heaven with blue eyes.” The Playmates sang that song in 1959. I was a sophomore in high school. That’s a long time to remember a song. Google it.

Then, in a 1967 tv special, Charlie Brown had fallen in love with the little red-haired girl. He was infatuated with her for years but too chicken to approach her. The ideal opportunity came one day when she dropped a pencil in the hallway. He picked it up for her and noticed that there were bite marks in the pencil causing him to exclaim: “She’s human!” He tried many times to chat with her. Finally, one day she stuffs a note into his hand and runs to catch her bus. Charlie, afraid that it was a “get lost note,” slowly opens it and reads: “I like you, Charlie Brown. Signed, the Little Red-Haired Girl.”

Fast forwarding to 1996, a group of French Trappist Monks have their monastery in the Algerian mountains – a center of Christian prayer surrounded by Islamic communities. The monks loved the people; the people loved the monks. The monks sold vegetables and honey; they provided medical care to the people. Is this not a type of very quiet love that we hear so often spoken in the gospels? Political turmoil, unrest, a military government, and extremist guerrillas put their lives in danger. They had to decide to stay where they loved and were loved or to return to France where they were safe. They chose to stay. The end result was their death, in fact, martyrdom because, out of love, they chose to stay. The movie Of Gods and Men tells this story.

So, which of these love stories is true love? The ponytail, Charlie Brown, or the Trappist monks? I hope you know the answer.

We so often hear the word “love” bantered around. I love my dog; I love vanilla ice cream; I love the Red Sox; I love my car; I love the spring; and, of course, love is in the air. We hear a student shout to another: “I love you” almost as if it means: “have a nice day.” Is this the love we hear about in scripture? Is this the type of love Jesus commands in today’s gospel? Which version of love is the true version?

Obviously, we side with Jesus. That does not mean that other forms of love are bad. It does mean that other forms are deficient.

First of all, note that Jesus makes love a commandment, not a suggestion, not a feeling, not a desire... rather, a commandment.

The love that Jesus teaches, preaches, and lives is a transformative love. Out of love, he performed miracles. Those miracles transformed people. Our of love, God created us. That love transformed the world that he had already created. Every time we love someone, that person is transformed. That expression of love is not contained in words or in a box from Kay jewelers. Rather, the love that transforms others is what we do for the other. That form of love transforms both the lover and the loved.

Besides being transformative, money, knowledge, military might, or executive acumen cannot purchase the power of love. Each one of use possesses the power of love, and this power to love makes us all equal in the sight of God.

A good example of the scripturally based love can be found in the true love of a mother towards her children, as we celebrate next Sunday on Mother’s Day. That love must always imitate God’s love for us. That love must transform the children. That love must let the children grow up as God has let us grow up. That love must know when to back off and when to intervene, as God does with us.

Love is a challenge; love is a privilege. God’s love has transformed us into his sons and daughters. May our love be able to transform our own lives and the lives of all we meet.