Tag Archives: love for God

Vocation to love

 

  

God has known and loved each one of us from all eternity. Then, in the fulness of time for us, he created us out of love and invited us to enter into a loving relationship with him. In this meditation we use texts of Scripture, St John Paul II and St Josemaria to consider how:

  • God loves us with the love of eros and agape
  • To love God more and reflect Christ better, we must struggle against the wounds of original sin: pride, self-centredness, lack of willpower and disordered desire for pleasure
  • We grow in love for God through prayer, penance and the sacraments
  • The more we love God, the happier we will be and the more able to draw other souls to God

Love for God

We are all aware of the commandment to love God with our whole heart, soul, mind and strength. But what exactly does this mean?  Is it having feelings of love, telling God we love him, having many devotions? In this meditation we use texts from Scripture, St John Paul II, St Josemaria, St Alphonsus Liguori, and St Francis de Sales to consider how:

  • Love for God is not having feelings of love, telling God we love him, avoiding sinning, or having many devotions, although these are aspects of love
  • St Alphonsus tells us that loving God is essentially doing his will
  • Love for God is doing our ordinary work with love
  • Love for God is loving our neighbour, starting with the members of our family

Love for the Sacred Heart

Our Lord has loved us to the end, to the last drop of his blood and water, and he invites us to love him in return. In this meditation we use texts of Scripture, Pope Francis’ encyclical Dilexit nos, St Margaret Mary Alacoque and St Josemaria Escriva to consider how:

  • Christ’s Sacred Heart is a true human heart, loving all mankind, and each individual, with infinite divine love.
  • When Christ has loved us so much, we should strive to love him in return.
  • Our Lord asked St Margaret Mary for the feast of the Sacred Heart, in order to increase love for him throughout the world.
  • We can learn much from Pope Francis’ beautiful encyclical on the Sacred Heart Dilexit nos (2024)
  • Love for the world and for material things hinders our love for God
  • We can grow in love for God and our neighbour in practical ways.

Heart in God, not in goods

The widow giving her two mites, all she had

The Scriptures invite us to love God above all things. But in an affluent society, where goods abound, it is easy to put our heart more in goods than in God. In this meditation we draw on texts of Scripture, Popes Paul VI and Francis, and Fathers of the Church, to consider how:

  • We must strive to love God with our whole hearts and to keep our minds on the eternal reward that awaits us in heaven
  • We should adjust our priorities so that we are detached from the goods we possess and we do not buy things we do not need
  • We can endeavour to live a more simple lifestyle, appreciating the little things of life
  • We should be generous with our wealth in helping those who are less fortunate

Loving God in the Heart of Jesus

A depiction of our Lord, showing His most sacred Heart

The Most Sacred Heart of Jesus

Our Lord has loved us to the last drop of his blood and water, and he invites us to love him in return. In this meditation we use texts of Scripture, St Margaret Mary Alacoque and St Josemaria Escriva to consider how:

  • St John writes in his Gospel that Jesus has loved us “to the end” and in his first Letter that “God is love”.
  • Our Lord asked St Margaret Mary for the feast of the Sacred Heart, in order to increase love for him throughout the world.
  • St Margaret writes in a letter about the three streams that pour out from the heart of Christ.
  • We can grow in love for God and our neighbour in practical ways.

Love for our neighbour

 

 

St Paul tells us that the greatest of the virtues is charity. If we are to live this virtue well, we must first grow in love for God so that his love fills us and overflows into those around us. In this meditation we consider how:

  • The more we love God, the easier it will be to love our neighbour
  • We can learn charity from saints like Mother Teresa of Calcutta and St Josemaria, who loved God with their whole heart and their neighbour as themselves
  • We can grow in four aspects of charity: patience, love for people of all backgrounds, forgiveness and kindness

Learning to love

Our Lord, Jesus Christ washing the feet of his apostles.

Our Lord, Jesus Christ washing the feet of his apostles. An act of love.

 

Our Lord loved us “to the end” and he gives us the New Commandment to love one another as he has loved us. In this meditation we consider how:

  • The saints, including St Josemaria, truly poured out love because they themselves were in love with God
  • If we are going to love our neighbour truly we must first fall more in love with God through prayer, the sacraments, etc.
  • We can improve in patience by considering how patient God is with us
  • We can strive to improve in such other aspects of love as spirit of service,  forgiveness and kindness by considering Christ’s example