First, Love God

 From this morning's prayer time:

The question on my heart: Why is it necessary to love God if He doesn't need our love?

What I wrote in my prayer journal: Because we cannot love the unlovable. We cannot love God unless we truly know Him for who He is. Love for God assures right understanding and a desire to serve Him  -- through, by, and in perfect love. Thus the Greatest Commandment is to love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, and all your mind, which then MUST lead to love for yourself and neighbor because if we love God we will love what God loves, and He loves us!

More thoughts:  God doesn't need our love, or our works, or or prayers, or our devotion. He is entirely and completely divine and whole without anything we could offer. Thus, our love for Him and His desire for that love does not stem from something that benefits Him, rather it benefits US. WE need to love Him, because that's how we come to understand what love actually is. If God is love, but we don't know how to love, then how can we know God? And if God is love, but we don't know God, then how can we know how to love?

In "The Second Greatest Story Ever Told," Fr. Gaitley talks about the heresy of Jansenism and the pain it wrought upon the Church in the 18th century. It is this same pain I see between Catholics and other Christians in our country today, and between Secular Humanists and followers of any major religion. Our definitions of love are vastly different; so different that love to one group looks like hate to the other.

So this is why is it not enough to be a "moral person." It is not enough to "live a good life" that focuses on being kind to others and tolerant of their beliefs. It is not enough to simply be responsible stewards of our blessings, and perhaps create some beauty in the world. If our understanding of God is twisted, our understanding of love will be twisted, and our attempts to love and create beauty will also be twisted.

True love, God's love, is radical. So radical that it looks like insanity to those outside the relationship. Our current political climate is like the book of Hosea. The sorrow we experience at every failed attempt to reach one another is a mirror of God's sorrow as He reaches out to us with the answer to every human problem, and still we turn away because we don't believe! Lest you worry that I speak from one political party of another, let me remind you, gentle reader, that I belong to neither, and count as my dearest friends those on all sides who have beliefs that I consider utterly, completely, abhorrently wrong. I am not speaking to any of you, but to all of you, and to myself.

Whatever the problem: Love God.

Seek God.

Know God.

If there is any doubt in our minds or hearts about His mercy, His goodness, or His perfection, that is a sign our understanding is incomplete. Many of the Saints struggled to comprehend His ways throughout their lives, but by the end, all their doubts and questions were answered through the gentle and unrelenting revelation of His love in their hearts. I am struggling, too. Please pray for me.