From the Sunday Note, with additional thoughts:
Beloved, let us love one another,
because love is of God;
everyone who loves is begotten by God and knows God.
Whoever is without love does not know God, 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.
2nd reading for Sunday, first letter of John 4:7-10
“God is love” John writes in verse 8. He repeats it in verse 16, the only places we find this in Scripture. Our Catechism teaches that this is God’s “innermost secret.” (#221) Exactly what does John mean by this?
First off, God = love, but love ≠ God.
In other words, our definition of “love” is inadequate to describe God. Rather, we must begin at the other end: God (and only God) can adequately describe what love is. “Love” as we commonly use the word, covers a range of realities—acts, attitudes, expectations, emotions—that are inevitably distorted to a greater or lesser extent by our culture, personal history, weaknesses, etc. We “love” parakeets, ice cream, beautiful vistas, sexual pleasure, and our grandmothers. Each of these may have more, or less, or even nothing much at all to do with God.
John expects us to begin at the other end: first, being “begotten by God,” and “knowing God.”
In Christian terms, being “begotten” by God means being re-born in baptism—starting a new life in Christ (as a conscious choice for an adult being baptized or, if we were baptized as an infant, coming to personally ratify our parents’ choice at some point. “Knowing God” means having experiential knowledge of God by his working in our lives over time. It is in this new life that we uncover, discover, and grow in our understanding of what God’s love is. Jesus is THE exemplar of God’s love in human form: love is total self-giving for the good of others.
Love includes our goodwill towards another, no matter what our feelings towards her or him might be. It is love, care, and goodwill to console the sorrowful and support people in their various struggles. It may also involve calling upon them to change. Speaking sharply in warning to a child standing too close to a fire is an act of love, too, even if he doesn’t want to hear it and resents you for it. At another time, with an adult, it may be best to step back quietly and let him enjoy the bitter fruit of his own decisions. Scripture shows that Jesus takes different tacks in different situations. Love takes prayerful discernment and reflection in the spirit of Christ. We must keep in mind that, ultimately, he was willing to die for his enemies, even after he had warned them many times.
Love, God’s “innermost secret,” enlarges our love.
For further reflection:
We both give and receive love, and our discernment is needed in both cases. As above, when we give love, we must discern just what “shape” love should take in the particular situation. We will also receive love–and we receive “not love” from people around us, too. Our discernment in receiving must decide whether what we are receiving is love or not-love. For instance, when we are prevented from doing something we want to do–is this bad? Or is it a reflection of the truth that doing whatever it is would be bad for us, leading us away from other, great responsibilities we have, for instance? If we discern that instead, in this case it is not-love, the next question is how to respond–why is the Lord permitting this? Growing in love, in God’s way of love, takes time, trial-and-error, experiences. It is usually a long walk, not a sprint. A long walk, yes, but not alone. Someone is beside us.
Your thoughts, comments, questions welcomed. Leave a reply or email me direct (see “ABOUT” above).