DAILY PRAYER

“Whoever loves me will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our dwelling with him. Whoever does not love me does not keep my words” (Jn 14:23-24).

Our relationship with God depends upon our accepting His way of thinking since He is the Supreme Being — all-knowing, Font of goodness and justice.  Yet many of us know little more than to dwell and grovel in our egotistical desires!  “Whoever loves me will keep my word.” 

To love and serve Jesus (and thus our neighbor and our foe) places us in a profound relationship with the Father: “My Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our dwelling with him.”

Love identifies and unites us, with the loved one.  A person who loves a sport makes that their passion.  They almost cannot imagine life without their sport.

Jesus must be our passion, so we can say we love God with a greater love than we show for everything else.

Our capacity to love Jesus is limited:  we are incapable of making our love ascend to the level of His love.  “No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draw him” (Jn 6:44).

Opening our hearts to Jesus fills up what is lacking in our hearts with divine love.

Reflection and commentary

Psalm 119:48  “I lift up my hands to your commands; I study your laws, which I love.”  St. Catherine of Siena, Virgin, d. 1380, Dominican Scholastic philosopher and theologian. She also worked to bring Pope Gregory XI back to Rome from Avignon and to establish peace among the Italian city-states. Patroness of Italy.

OUR PRAYER CONTINUES