Meditation for the Day

Tuesday after Epiphany, January 4

May God’s Love for Each of Us Become the Model of How You and I Are to Love, for God’s Love Is Limitless, an Example of How Our Love Should Also Be.

As we begin to leave the warm feelings of the holiday season to the cold months of winter, we are given an opportunity to take with us what the Christmas Event was all about. And we hear it explained to us very clearly in our First Reading today:

“…for God is love. In this way the love of God was revealed to us: God sent his only-begotten Son into the world so that we might have life through him.”

There is an old expression, and I am sure that most of us have heard it used at one time or another: “I may not be able to explain it, but I know it when I see it!”

This could easily apply to the reality to which we refer when we use the word “love” – we can experience it; we can feel its presence; but when we try to define it, the definition becomes very “slippery”, and our attempts at rationally explaining or defining what love is seems to oftentimes elude us.

And yet, we hear in the First Letter of John, “…God is love.” John gives a definition or proof of God’s Love by pointing out that the Eternal Father sent His only Son into the world, born at Christmas, so that we may have the gift of eternal life.

And then he goes to further explain God’s relationship to His own creation with the words: “In this is love: not that we have loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as expiation for our sins.”

In short, we experience love first of all by being loved! This is true on both the natural as well as the supernatural levels. We first learn to love by feeling loved from our parents. One of the most important tasks of a parent is teaching a child how to give and receive love! But the parent must first show the child love; and only then does the child gradually learn to experience and appreciate that love, which the child then happily returns.

It may well be that we experience love most through our physical senses and the actions of fellow human beings – whether they be parents, a spouse, children, friends, community or even strangers. But sometimes love comes to us in ways that cannot be “felt” – yet still experienced.

God’s Love will often fall into this category. The very nature of God is relational, as we know from the Divine Love which exists between each of the Three Divine Persons of the Blessed Trinity. God’s Love is also relational in the Love which exists between the Divine Bridegroom and His Bride – the Church, of which we are all members.

God cannot help but love us, and, being human, we are often demanding of signs or proofs of God’s Love, just as we often do with our human relationships. And God understands this weakness within us; and yet, it does not diminish His Love for us.

For we read in today’s Gospel, “When Jesus saw the vast crowd, his heart was moved with pity for them, for they were like sheep without a shepherd; and he began to teach them many things.” And through His Love, our Lord fed them spiritually as well as physically, for He would not let them go away hungry. In His Love, our Lord filled their souls and their bodies with the nourishment He knew was best for them.

As we near the end of this Holy Season of Christmas in just a few days, we have been given a reminder of the God who is Love, because God put a human face on His Love in the Person of Jesus Christ. And it is through the Eternal Word made flesh wherefrom we are taught that love is like the five loaves and two fishes – there never seems to be enough food to go around, until we start giving it away – for God’s Love is limitless, an example of how our love should also be.

As we begin our pilgrimage through life in this new year, and as we think about God’s Love for you and me, let us contemplate Christmas when God became man for our sake, by being born amongst His own. And let us also reflect upon Easter, in which the Son of Man freely offers Himself in sacrifice, so that we may have life and have it to the fullest.

Christmas and Easter – expressions of Eternal Love, a Divine Love which continues to give! They are truly God’s gifts offered to each and every one of us, freely given out of God’s infinite and indescribable Love for you and me!

May His Love for us become the model for how you and I are to also love in the world around us in which we live. †

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Please Comment, Like and Share, and Suggest to your Facebook friends – to spread the message of God’s Merciful Love.

Por favor Comente, Le Gusta y Comparta, y Sugiera a tus amigos en Facebook – en difundir el mensaje del Misericordioso Amor de Dios.

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Scripture for the Day

• “…for God is love. In this way the love of God was revealed to us: God sent his only Son into the world so that we might have life through him. In this is love: not that we have loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as expiation for our sins.” (1 John 4:8b-10)
• “What does the Lord ask of us? Only this, to act justly, love tenderly, and walk humbly with God.” (Micah 6:8b)
• “I give you a new commandment: love one another. As I have loved you, so you also should love one another. This is how all will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.” (John 13:34-35)
• “Let love be sincere; hate what is evil, hold on to what is good; love one another with mutual affection.” (Romans 12:9-10a)
• “…if I have all faith so as to move mountains but do not have love, I am nothing. If I give away everything I own, and if I hand my body over so that I may boast but do not have love, I gain nothing.” (1 Corinthians 13:2b-3)
• “If anyone says, ‘I love God,’ but hates his brother, he is a liar; for whoever does not love a brother whom he has seen cannot love God whom he has not seen. This is the commandment we have from him: whoever loves God must also love his brother.” (1 John 4:20-21)
• “Beloved, if God so loved us, we also must love one another. No one has ever seen God. Yet, if we love one another, God remains in us, and his love is brought to perfection in us.” (1 John 4:11-12)

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Prayer for the Day

“Jesus, Loving Companion of Your children,
You have extended Your friendship to all.
You opened Your arms without discrimination,
offering Your warmth to those seeking comfort.

“Endow me with the virtue of such a friendship,
to know, love and trust all on an equal basis;
To share my friendship without prejudice,
and to be charitable towards those who are less fortunate.

“Jesus, fashion my heart to reflect Your qualities,
those befitting a loving and caring spirit.
Lord, You showed me the way to true friendship;
Help me to be more like You in the world around me. Amen.”

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