Love of God

Jesus says “The first and greatest commandment” is “You shall love the Lord, your God, with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.” (Mat 22:37) This can seem a little abstract, because God doesn’t seem as tangible as one’s parents, siblings, friends, spouse, or children. Yet, we are told that “Heaven is essentially the sight of God face to face… Heaven is the romance, the never-ending love story of the soul and God… all human lovableness is as a drop in the ocean of God’s love and magnificence.” (The Church Triumphant, Rev. J.P. Arendzen, pp. 5, 8, 24)  So, how does one grow in love of God, and how does one show one’s love for God?

The late Fr. John Hardon, in a talk titled “How to Grow in Love of God,” indicates that there are similarities between love of God and love of a human person: “We have to know something about the person, we have to perceive the person as good, and we have to perceive the person as being good to me, personally, until we begin to love the person not for ourselves, but for him.” We might meet this person and have a meal with him, or show our affection through some act or service. To love God, we need to know about God and His plan of salvation through sacred scripture, the Church, sermons, Catholic media, etc. We need to reflect on God’s blessings to us: His wondrous creation, the gift of life, our daily blessings, His mercy… Fr. Hardon says “The experience of the undeserved love of God for us is the surest way of growing in our love for Him.” Fr. Mark Dosh recommends reading and meditating on the passion narratives (Mat 26-27, Mark 14-15, Luke 22-23). “Meditating,” in the Catholic sense, means reflecting on a religious truth, resolving to live up to this truth, and praying for the grace to carry out the resolution. (Tilmann Pesch, S.J. The Catholic’s Manual, p. 329) We can respond to God’s love through prayer (such as the Rosary or Mass), praise, adoration of the Blessed Sacrament, contrition, thanksgiving, supplication and service.

In the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, at the Consecration, the priest says that Jesus took the bread “and gave thanks” to His almighty Father. Why was Jesus thankful? Jesus was thankful that He could show His love to His Father by offering Himself, the “Lamb of God,” through the broken bread of His body and the poured out wine of His blood, to free us from the slavery of sin and death.

This means salvation, the possibility of eternal life! At the Eucharistic Feast (“Eucharist” means “thanksgiving”), which is a meal, a banquet, we celebrate this freedom. Through His sacrificial love, and through reception of His Body and Blood in Holy Communion, we enter into His gift of Self to the Father. It’s natural that in gratitude and thanksgiving for His infinite gift to us, that we would want to show our love for Him. How do we show this love?

Jesus told us: “If you love Me, keep My Commandments.” Fr. Welzbacher advises that we: “1) Say NO to mortal sin; 2) Cultivate a spirit of prayer throughout the day; 3) Do your duties out of love for God.” St. Paul (Romans 12:1) says this: “present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship.” The Church advises us to go to Confession and receive Holy Communion, to live virtuously and perform the spiritual and corporal works of mercy. Since Mass is the highest expression of gratitude for salvation and God’s goodness to us, we should always fulfill our Sunday Mass obligation.

At this time of the year when we celebrate Thanksgiving, it’s worth remembering how love of God was expressed in The First National Proclamation of Thanksgiving, adopted by the Continental Congress in 1777. It reads: “It is the indispensable Duty of all men to… adore God; to acknowledge with gratitude their obligation to Him for benefits received… the good People consecrate themselves in service to their Divine Benefactor… and…. join the penitent confession of their manifold sins… that it may please God, through the merits of Jesus Christ, to mercifully forgive them and blot out their remembrance… and to prosper the means of Religion, for the promotion and enlargement of that Kingdom which consisteth in Righteousness, Peace and Joy in the Holy Ghost.”

We volunteers hope that this station helps you grow in love of God. Please consider showing your thanks for this apostolate by recommending it to others, by saying a prayer for it, a contribution, or note of thanks.

A Blessed Thanksgiving to you!