Sermon for the 30th of March - Mothering Sunday

Mothering Sunday Sermon: Love Without Limits

Today, as we celebrate Mothering Sunday, I want to focus on one central theme: love.

Our first reading calls us to clothe ourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience. But above all, it calls us to put on love, for love binds everything together in perfect harmony.

Is There a Limit to Love?

This question was recently debated between JD Vance and Rory Stewart—both serious Christians. Vance, a Roman Catholic convert, and Stewart, a confirmed Anglican, discussed the concept of ordo amoris—the order of love—drawing from St. Augustine’s teachings. Vance suggested that love must be prioritized: first family, then neighbours, then country, and only after that, others. His argument implied that love is limited, like a cake: you only have so many slices to give away before it runs out.

If love is finite, then we must ration it. We must carefully decide who receives it because, eventually, there will be none left. But this perspective misrepresents the nature of Christian love. Divine love is not like cake—it is more like fire.

Love is Like Fire, Not Cake

If you have a candle, you can use its flame to light another candle without diminishing the first. The fire does not decrease; it spreads, bringing light and warmth wherever it reaches. This is the nature of God’s love—limitless, expansive, and self-giving.

Augustine teaches that when divine love truly grasps our hearts, it transforms us. Love ceases to be just something we do; it becomes something we are. If God’s love fills us, there is no conflict between loving our family and loving the stranger, between loving our neighbour and even loving our enemy. Divine love, like fire, extends to all it encounters.

Loving God First Transforms Our Love for Others

It is natural for love to begin with those closest to us—our families, our friends, those in our daily lives. But to suggest that this love must come at the expense of loving the stranger is a mistake. Our love must not be exclusive or selective.

The primary object of our love is not, first and foremost, our family, our community, or even the refugee seeking asylum. The primary object of our love is God. And when we learn to love God fully, we learn a different kind of love—one that does not divide or diminish but grows and spreads. A love that is like fire.

Let us pray:

Come, Holy Spirit, fill the hearts of your faithful people and kindle in us the fire of your love. Send forth your Spirit, O Lord, and they shall be created, and You shall renew the face of the earth. Amen.

Reference: Bishop Graham Tomlin - https://www.seenandunseen.com/jd-vance-and-rory-stewart-have-both-missed-point-when-it-comes-who-love