The Stuff of which Heroes Are Made?

Kudos to Jonathan for his beautiful post on the nature of human love and self-sacrifice. It's a good companion to my post earlier this week about St. Maximilian Kolbe, who gave his life for a fellow prisoner at Auschwitz. And like my post, Jonathan's also makes reference to John 15:13: "Greater love has no one than this, that one lay down his life for his friends."

I've always liked to think that, if presented with that life-or-death moment, I would surrender myself to that "no greater love." I like to think that, if called, I would risk my life as those miners did in Utah, or I would be as selfless toward my mellow man as was Fr. Kolbe. But would I really?

We are all more virtuous in our minds than we are in our hearts. And while I've never been presented with one of those moments where someone else's life depended on my bravery, how many times have I failed to make much smaller sacrifices on others' behalf? How many times have I been "too busy" to talk to someone who needed companionship, "too stretched" to donate to a worthy cause, too distracted to even see very real human needs in my midst?

Just this morning I got an e-mail from my friend Mariella, a Peruvian national living here in L.A. Naturally, she was quite concerned for family and loved ones back in Peru, which has been devastated by a magnitude-8 earthquake. She provided links to contribute to Direct Relief International's efforts in Peru. Would I skip the e-mail and go on to another, or would I follow those links and lend some support?

Most of us, fortunately, are never called upon to make the BIG sacrifice. But the opportunities for small sacrifices are all around us all the time. These are chances to love, if only we take of them.