Wednesday of the Seventh Week in Ordinary Time
I used to think I understood what it meant when someone told me they loved me. It meant they cared for me and would take care of me. It is a good thing to have people care about us. Yet for me this did not translate as unconditional love. This love is best captured in scripture as agape.
Fr. Robert Barron says it this way. Love is willing the good of the other. Intellectually, this seemed like a good definition. Until one day, it felt like my world was coming apart. In this moment of tragedy something profound happened. My friend told me that she loved me, but more importantly she reminded me that God loved me. In this moment, I knew that if she loved and accepted me for me, then how much more God would love me. God always wills’ the good for me, and in this moment, what I had known in my head, now connected to my heart. Then I knew that love had the power to transform.
While the knowledge of those moments persists years later the struggles since have prevented this metanoia from remaining firmly rooted in my soul. Sometimes my awareness of the goodness of God seemed to be prevented by events outside my control. s work from taking place in me. s love. Also this occurred when I placed too much emphasis on my my own self- importance. This focus inward truly prevented me from experiencing Agape love.
God love is all around us. If we were more aware, we might recognize all of the great things being down in the Lord’s name. We might realize all of the ways the Lord is trying to transform our lives.
"Loving and ever-patient God, Open our hearts to the fire of your transforming love. So that when we get in Your way, You can remove whatever prevents us from recognizing You, who lives and reigns one God forever and ever. Amen!
-Michael Montgomery