“Can a mother forget the baby at her breast and have no compassion on the child she has borne? Though she may forget, I will not forget you!”(Isaiah 49:15).
God’s love is everlasting and a love which provides us comfort. There are different kinds of love. One who is selfish and tries to attain everything in life and another which is ready to sacrifice everything for the others. When the expectations and desires are not fulfilled the love also stops. But it is only the love of God which is everlasting and all forgiving.
If as a Christian we love Jesus with all our mind, heart and strength then he will have nothing to fear in his life. If there is something that is troubling us then we are not fully understood or experienced the love of God. The worldly love takes everything we have to offer and rejects us when we have nothing else to offer but the love of God is eternal.
Jesus showed us that he loves his Father unconditionally (Mark 14:36), “Abba, Father,” he said, “Everything is possible for you. Take this cup from me. Yet not what I will, but what you will.” The Holy Scripture bears witness to the fact that Jesus was aware of the pain, sufferings, rejections that he had to go through and shows us that all this pain is nothing compared to the Love of God and accepts the cross happily. His only purpose was to love God unconditionally under all circumstances.
YOUCAT the catechism for the youth clearly defines what love is. Charity (love) is the power by which we, who have been loved first by God, can give ourselves to God so as to be united with him and accept our neighbor for God’s sake as unconditionally and sincerely as we accept our selves. Jesus places love above all laws, without however abolishing the latter. Therefore St. Augustine rightly says, “Love and do what you will”, which is not at all as easy as it sounds. That is why charity (love) is the greatest virtue, the energy that inspires all other virtues and fills them with divine love (YOUCAT 309).
If we live in love with the Lord 100% of the time, then God will give us anything that we ask. Abraham and Job are fine examples from the Old Testament. Abraham was ready to sacrifice his only son. Isaac spoke up and said to his father Abraham, “Father?” “Yes, my son?” Abraham replied. “The fire and wood are here,” Isaac said, “but where is the lamb for the burnt offering?” Abraham answered, “God himself will provide the lamb for the burnt offering, my son.” And the two of them went on together (Genesis 22: 7-8). Abraham responds to the questions Isaac had beautifully. Abraham proclaims that it is the same God who gives and takes away as well and he is absolutely convinced of God’s love for him.
St Paul in 1 Corinthians 13:8 says, “If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing.” It is this love for God that prompted Abraham to sacrifice his only son. It was the same situation with Job. God blessed him with wealth, health and prosperity. God also took back each of this and destroyed everything Job had. Then Job said, ““Naked I came from my mother’s womb, and naked I will depart. The Lord gave and the Lord has taken away; may the name of the Lord be praised” (Job 1:21). Even though Job was filled with wounds all over the body not once did he curse his God.
And so we know and rely on the love God. “God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in them” (1 John 4:16). We see Jesus, Abraham and Job etc. proclaiming the love for God and the triune God expects the same kind of love from us too. St Paul in Romans 8: 35-39 says, “Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword? As it is written: “For your sake we face death all day long; we are considered as sheep to be slaughtered. “In all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.”
When we love God with everything then God takes over our lives, he ensures that we are not destroyed and to prove this love for us. “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life” (John 3:16). The epitome of that love is what we see in the cross. Longinus one of the Roman soldiers was right in the front with those who crucified Jesus even though he had difficulty with his eye sight. The blood and water gushed from the heart of Jesus gave back his sight and made him a saint. Jesus showed his love even when he was on the cross breathing his last.
No sins can destroy the cross. Jesus by dying on the cross proved that love can never be defeated. Let us unite our lives with this love of Jesus. Let us surrender our lives, our families our communities and the entire world to this Sacred Heart of Jesus who died on the cross to save us from sin.
The blood and water of Jesus fill me with love and make me yours forever!
Benny Edatt