Thursday after Epiphany
We hear the word “love” used often in our everyday lives. Today’s scripture readings share what love means from a divine standpoint. We believe that our God is a Trinity of three persons-Father, Son and Spirit. Our Triune God reveals that it in within relationships that love is shared. God invites us to participate in this relationship of Love.
In the first reading, we are reminded that we love because God first loved us. God created all people with great love, and calls us to not only love God, but to love others. One way we show our love for God is through our belief in Jesus and following His ways.
In the Gospel reading, Jesus is filled with the Spirit of the Lord, and it is this Spirit that allows Him to “bring glad tidings to the poor, proclaim liberty to the captives, recovery of sight to the blind, to let the oppressed go free and proclaim a year acceptable to the Lord.” God the Father sends Jesus in love, Jesus lives that love out in His life here on earth through the power of the Spirit that is shared between the Father and the Son.
As disciples of Christ, we are called to love in the same way as Jesus. Jesus shares God’s commandments with us- love God and your neighbor as yourself- and Jesus demonstrates what it looks like to live in God’s love. Jesus shows mercy to others, brings healing to others’ pain, and stands with those at the periphery in need of support and protection. Jesus literally gives Himself completely through His death on the cross. The Father shares His Spirit with Jesus, and Jesus responds in the Spirit of love through His words and deeds. We are called to do the same.
In his book “The Divine Dance: The Trinity and Your Transformation”, Fr. Richard Rohr makes the following statement about the Trinity and our relationship with God. “God for us, God alongside us, God within us.” God the Father is for us as He loves us into being. Jesus is with us, since He has walked on this earth, and He knows how to put love into action. In the joys and struggles Jesus is there reminding us that we are never alone. The Spirit of God within us provides the grace to live out this divine love in our lives. The challenge for us is to recognize God as love and to allow the sharing of God’s love to be the foundation for all we think, say and do.
Loving Father, you create all in love. You sent Jesus, your Son, to show us how to live this love. Send down your Spirit of Love, so we may become part of this “Divine Dance” of love and become your presence for the world. We pray this in Christ’s name. AMEN
—Marylynn Herchline