Bread of Life – January
God shows his love for us in that while we were yet sinners Christ died for us
This is how God loves us. He initiates. He offers Himself to us and waits for us to reciprocate. And He calls us to do the same for others, in imitation of Him.
When we receive the love of God, we are transformed by it and cannot but seek to share with others the joy of friendship with Him. So we love them as He has loved us, and we wait for them to join us in our joy. In His love He suffered for us, and in loving others we also suffer for them. We wait for them without knowing whether or when they will respond to the love of God that we offer to them.
It would appear, then, that love includes risk – risk that our hope for reciprocation will be disappointed. In some manner, this is true. God chose to create us with the freedom to accept or to reject His love. By loving as He loves, we participate in the mystery of His choice.
“God shows his love for us in that while we were yet sinners Christ died for us”
Romans 5:8
Yet, if love includes risk, God minimizes this risk – for love is transformative. God’s love for us makes us able to respond to Him. When we share His love with others, they too are rendered able to respond. This is part of the mystery of God’s love: It is creative. It lifts us up. It transforms every situation into which it is introduced.
Consequently, the risk of loving does not depend upon factors that we can assess at arm’s length, factors that precede in time our choice to love as He loves. Love sees beyond these factors. When we love, we see that all things are possible with God. We see what he calls each of us to become, and we receive His help in overcoming every obstacle on the way to the fulfillment of His vision. Love – because it frees and enables us to respond to itself – overcomes every threat to its fulfillment except the freedom that it fosters itself.
Again, this is the mystery of God’s love: Upon the Cross, Christ reveals to us the beautiful patience of the Father Who gives to us every help and Who waits for us to respond to His paternal love. We who respond to Him participate in His suffering and His waiting in this life and in His love and His joy in this life and in eternity.
Lord, we pray: Transform us by Your love: Make us patient, discerning, and filled with joy.
– St. Augustine, homily 9 on 1 John
Ben Martin
CIVI Vice President for the New Evangelization
Ben, his wife Amelja, and their sons Peter and James live in Tampa, FL, USA.