So a beautiful reflection that my professor has also been reiterating in class is that the Father loves us with the same love with which He loves the Son. God loves US as much as He loves Jesus! God is One, and God is Love, therefore, God's Love is One. He cannot love differently, only perfectly. By Baptism (and thus, adoption as Sons and Daughters of God in the Son, by the power of the Holy Spirit), we have become by grace what Christ is by nature. He loves us as He loves Christ.
Would that we would meditate on this profound reality daily!
Reading through the Gospels, one sees how loving the Father is toward Jesus - and toward us. Jesus' whole ministry is marked by this profound awareness on His part of the Love His Father has for Him. It begins at Jesus' Baptism in the Jordan River, when a voice from heaven says, "This is my Beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased" and continues from there.
It dawned on me then, how loving our God is. If God loves us that much, (and He does), should we not trust Him?
Thinking in these terms, it has made me re-read a lot of other passages in a new way: "What Father, when his son asks for a fish, would hand him a snake? Or when he asks for a loaf, would hand him a stone. If you who are evil know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more so your heavenly Father..."
Let us pray boldly, asking God with confidence for the grace(s) we need in our lives, for Jesus tells us that we ought to pray to the Father in his name, asking for whatever we need, and that we need not be afraid because "The Father himself loves" us. (John 16:26-27).
we have that picture hanging in our office. now i'm going to think about this every time i look at it! :3
ReplyDeleteSweet! It's a great and ancient Christian image. It's from the Church of the multiplication of the loaves in Galilee... =)
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