I recently saw that it has been 50 years since the movie Love Story came out. One might not think this movie would make me think of my dad, but it does. Whenever a commercial for the movie came on, it would play the most iconic line, “Love means never having to say you’re sorry.” Every time he heard it, he got mad. “That is the stupidest thing I have ever heard,” he would puff, “When you love someone, you are constantly saying you’re sorry because you always screw up!”
Somehow, I took this lesson to heart even though I was not very old. Of course, growing up Catholic helped. We are constantly feeling guilty for something and apologizing. We even have a sacrament to do it officially. The line still makes me think about what love is and how we show it to each other.
One of the Bible readings at our wedding was 1 Corinthians 13:4-7. “Love is patient and kind; love is not jealous or boastful; it is not arrogant or rude. Love does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice at wrong, but rejoices in the right. Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.” This is a common reading for weddings, but when my then fiancée first read it, he felt inadequate. He thought there was no way he could live up to it. I told him no one can love like that, but we are supposed to try.
This brings me to a new understanding of all of this. If we equate Love with God, then it does mean not having to apologize because God is perfect. Jesus’s love for us is pure. We need to understand and appreciate this because it shows us for what to strive. I have to humble myself when I “screw up,” as my dad would say. Love means different things to different people, but when it comes to people, not God, my dad was right. We must be willing to admit when we are wrong and say the words, “I’m sorry.”