"GOD LOVES YOU; LOVE IN RETURN"
St. Vincent de Paul, the great apostle of charity, used to say,
"I have but a single sermon and twist it a thousand ways." What he meant is that the Christian message
is essentially a simple one, which has almost unlimited applications. That
simple message is: "God loves you; love in return." Despite its
simplicity, this message is profound. In fact, because of both its simplicity
and its profundity, it is easy for us to fail to appreciate its full meaning.
How wonderful it would be if we could catch and hold the spirit of new found
love in our relationship with God.
Think about how a young man feels when he realizes that the girl
of his dreams really does love him. He is in a kind of ecstasy. He glides
through the day in a trance, oblivious of his surroundings, his heart intent
only on his love. For him all is right in the world. He sees everything and
everyone in a new light. He is happy to be alive, grateful to have the sun rise
on a new day. Other people appear more beautiful and loveable to him than ever
before. Of course not everyone can cause this reaction in him, only the girl
whose return of love he ardently desires. He finds it almost incredible that
this absolutely wonderful person actually loves him. He will do whatever she
wants him to do.
No one is greater than God. No love is more desirable than His.
If only we could appreciate fully that God loves us, our whole outlook on life
would be transformed. We would be grateful for every day and see it as another
opportunity to return His love. We would look at each day from a different
perspective, and we could easily respond to the urging of St. John's Letter,
"Let us love one another" (1 Jn 4:7).
In today's Responsorial Psalm we acclaim, "Blessed are they
who follow the law of Lord" (Ps 119:1b)! May we walk in the way of our
Lord, with loving hearts, striving to be good servants by living and keeping
His words. Our challenge is to have hearts that are open and willing to do
whatever God desires of us. If we remain docile to what He wants we will
readily accept St. John's teaching that this love involves our "walking
according to His commandments" (2 Jn 2:6).