The Love of God

It is very awe inspiring to consider that God has known me from the beginning of time and has created me in His own image and likeness, that he planned for me to come into existence and that he loves me so much that he gave his only begotten son up to death on the cross to free us from eternal death. What is even more profound is that even now he continues to forgive me and all who continually seek his mercy, that our God loves us more than we even know how to love ourselves.

For a long time, I could not even comprehend in part that a love like this existed. I had wandered through world oblivious, seeking temporal pleasures and thought little of God. It has now been almost 7 years since my return to Rome and I must say that I behold a world of beauty and splendor, but it has only become so because I realize who the world belongs to and I as well.

I have grown to know that prayer is a very intimate conversation with our Lord and that it should not just be a fleeting moment thrown in from time to time, but a continuous dialogue. The beauty of fasting and abstinence is also manifest, as through such action we are not only able to comprehend the suffering of our brethren who may have nothing and pray for them, but we are also better understand Christ and purge ourselves of worldly attachments.

As Christians, we should constantly seek to detach ourselves from objects or anything that could keep from giving our glory to God, for that is the reason we are created, to love God, to give Him glory and honor, to serve Him. Once we are detached, we may begin to see Jesus as the savior of the world, as the true Lamb of God. It is then that we may realize the opportunities that ever present for us to demonstrate our love for Him by serving our fellow man, and those which show His for love us.

Our Lord desires not the death of a sinner and because of that he always welcomes us back. He loves us so much that humbled himself into human form and lived among us to show us the way. He allowed himself to be sacrificed in reparation for our sins, and now he calls us to behold him at the right hand of the Father. However, he loves us so much that he allows us to choose him or reject him. To choose Christ, you only need to follow Him, but how do we follow Him?

We follow Christ by following the Bride of Christ, the Holy Catholic Church. We follow him by following His precepts and by keeping ourselves in dialogue with Him. We must strive to contemplate His life, death and resurrection and must apply what he taught to our lives. We must strive to baptize every action so that it is worthy sacrifice to our Lord. Nothing should be autonomous of God, and we should always seek to do His will. When we pray, we should not merely utter words, but truly meditate upon the meaning of the words we say to the best or our ability. Our entire life should be consecrated to our Lord, for it was he who created us out of nothing and loves us beyond what we can comprehend.

We are supposed to be holy vessels and worthy habitations for the Holy Spirit to dwell in, so we must seek to avoid sin, but we have a fallen nature; therefore, we do happen to fall into sin on occasion. Nevertheless, our God is a merciful God and will forgive you if you are repentant. Through his great mercy, He has given the Holy Catholic Church the Sacrament of Reconciliation and with that a means to repair the wrongs done against Him. We only need humble ourselves enough to ask for forgiveness. The Lord will not shun a humbled and contrite heart. We only need implore his infinite mercy.

By having a life of prayer, frequenting the Sacraments (especially the Eucharist), and practicing fasting and abstinence the love of God is made manifest. The manifestation of this love makes it hard to turn one’s eyes away from the suffering of humanity or from the transgressions against Holy Mother Church. In essence, an attitude of apathy or mere self-concern evaporates. The God, who gave himself up to the suffering of cross, Jesus Christ, is made alive in the soul and the attitude of a servant becomes dominant. When this happens, God become part of everything, nothing is separated from Him, as His love flows through the person to the world and a zeal for souls reaches into their very heart. The Holy Spirit is allowed to work through the person, as he becomes an instrument of God and through this God’s love is allowed to shine out to the world more brightly.

Our God is so loving that he allows us to talk to Him in prayer and gives us many means to comprehend his mysteries and seek His forgiveness. His depth is so beyond us that he even allows us to play a part in our own redemption by accepting or rejecting him, and even allows us to assist in salvation of others. However, the key to this equation is that He allows us to choose. We choose whether to accept his love or reject it. We also choose whether we wish to take part in His plan of salvation or not, but if we choose to know God, then we must strive not to be superficial about it but strive to the deeper mystery. We must strive for that deeper dialogue, to contemplate His mysteries and truly embrace his love and share that love with the world.