So many of the Lenten themes run throughout our reading from
the prophet Hosea this morning: returning to God, pleading God’s mercy, God’s
healing, God humbling the proud, leading the wise, and causing the sinner to
stumble.
Yet, all of those Lenten themes can be summed up in the word’s
offered by the Lord in the Gospel this morning: “You shall love the Lord your
God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, with all your
strength, and love your neighbor as yourself.”
Put simply: Lent exists so that we can experience God’s love
for us and we can love others better.
Lent is all about clearing away the debris, stripping away all
those attitudes and vices and attachments which keep us from experiencing God’s
love in a deeper way, which keep us from deep generous love of others because of selfishness, fear, anger, and hurt.
God so desires the transformation of our hearts so we can experience
all of the love he has for us, so that our hearts can in turn be free to love
others with that same sort of love.
So we engage in deeper and more intense prayer throughout
Lent to allow the healing mercy of God to reach into the deepest darkest
corners of our heart to bring light to those dark places.
It’s difficult to respond to God when he says, “love me with
all of your heart.” For there is a fear,
that if I love God with all of my heart, there won’t be anything left. That’s both true and false. It is true that if we love God with our whole
heart, we will no longer love things, power, wealth, and fame. But it is also false, for when loves God with
one’s whole heart, love is not exhausted, rather, one love's with the heart of Jesus Christ—whose love for every
man is divine and infinite.
Do not be afraid to love God with your whole heart. It will free you from disordered affections
and intensify your love for others, for the glory of God and salvation of
souls.
No comments:
Post a Comment