God is Love! No Doubt about it!!!
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Mr. R :o)
“God is love, and he who abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him” (1 Jn 4:16).
The Holy Father's first encyclical was entitled: "God is love"
Here is a little portion of what he said:
In a world where the name of God is sometimes associated with vengeance or even a duty of hatred and violence, this message is both timely and significant. For this reason, I wish in my first encyclical to speak of the love which God lavishes upon us and which we in turn must share with others.
The unity of love
God’s love for us is fundamental for our lives, and it raises important questions about who God is and who we are. In considering this, we immediately find ourselves hampered by a problem of language. Today, the term “love” has become one of the most frequently used and misused of words, a word to which we attach quite different meanings.
Love of God and love of neighbor are thus inseparable; they form a single commandment. Love grows through love. Love is “divine” because it comes from God and unites us to God; through this unifying process it makes us a “we” which transcends our divisions and makes us one, until in the end God is “all in all” (1 Cor 15:28).
Charity: a responsibility of the Church
Love of neighbor, grounded in the love of God, is first and foremost a responsibility for each individual member of the faithful, but it is also a responsibility for the entire ecclesial community at every level: from the local community to the particular Church and to the Church universal in its entirety. As a community, the Church must practice love.
For the first part of this entry, I would like you to reflect on how God has shown his love to you in your life.
Be sure to take a few moments and pray about it. You will be amazed the ways he has shown his love for you.
For the second part of this entry, think of the ways you have shown God's love. What ways have you done your best to show God's love to your neighbor?
We as Christians, particullarly Roman Catholic Chrsitians, are blessed to have such wonderful examples in our Saints. Those who come to mind are Blessed Mother Teresa of Calcutta, St Maximillian Kolbe, and many more. These men and women have shown us how we can, as regular people, can show His love to all of those we come in contact with in our lives.
Finally, Reflect on this little story:
A Farmer's Wise Words: My dad didn't say much, but it was enough to change my life.
by John Buentello
It had been a week of one endless chore after another on the farm for my father and me—making repairs on the house, trying to get the meager little patch of ground ready for planting, and digging a new well to replace the one that had become contaminated. By the end of the week, we were exhausted, ready for a day of doing nothing.
My father packed us a lunch of jelly sandwiches and fresh apples, and told my mother that we were going to spend the day inspecting the hill. The hill was a sloping run of ground behind the farmhouse, the beginning of a range of hills in Texas that ran several miles to the north.
It was a favorite place for us to escape to; a spot where we could relax and talk.
This particular day, there wasn't too much talking going on. We trekked up the hill in relative silence, commenting on how hot it was and how much farther we had to go before we could break for lunch.
When we finally arrived at our favorite clearing, I was ready to just lay back and go to sleep. Instead, I couldn't take my eyes off our house—so small from this vantage point.
There have been so many changes for our family, I thought. Things have always been tight, but this has been an especially hard year.
I felt good about finally being old enough to pitch in and do my fair share of the work. At the same time I also wanted to be reassured everything was going to be all right. I wanted to know that what I counted on in my world wasn't threatened.
Dad must be thinking the same thing, I thought, glancing at him. Yet he seemed perfectly at peace sitting beside me. All I could see was a year of worry, a year of back-breaking work trying to hang on to what we had.
Dad's secret to happiness"Dad," I asked as he handed me a sandwich and a slice of apple. "Why
aren't you unhappy?" His answer was important to me.
"What should I be unhappy about?" he replied.
I looked back down at the farmhouse again and shrugged. "Everything, I guess. There doesn't seem to be anything we can count on anymore. We can't count on the weather. We can't count on being able to sell everything we grow. We can't even count on the water coming out of the well. Everything is changing."
My father nodded and stared out at the sky beyond the hill. He didn't say anything, just sat there mulling over the things I'd said. Finally he looked at me.
"I know what you mean. Sometimes I feel like things are changing so fast that I can't keep up."
"I feel like that, too. How do you stand it?"
With a knowing smile, he pointed to the sky. "I remember. I remember that even though everything in the world seems like it's never going to stop changing, there's one thing that always stays the same."
"What's that?"
"God's love for us," he said. "That's something that's always there. That will never change."
That was Dad's secret, I realized. No matter how crazy the world was around him, he knew the one truth that would never change: God loved him.
Since that day I have tried to live by that truth. There have been many changes—both good and bad—in my life since that afternoon on the hill. But I often think of that day with my father. For a day set aside to do nothing, a lot happened.
Love you and Be safe!
God Bless,
Mr. Reyes :o)
posted by Theology IV at 7:21 PM
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