God gives His communion to all who love Him. Communion with God is life and light and sweetness with all the good things that He has. But those who of their own will forsake Him, He rewards with separation from Him, which they themselves have chosen. As separation from light is darkness, so also alienation from God is deprivation of all good things which He has. But the good things of God are eternal and without end, so that the loss of them is eternal and without end. Thus sinners shall be the cause of their own torments, just as the blind do not see the light, although it is shining on them.
~St. Irenaeus of Lyons, Against Heresies, V.27)
Beloved, let us Love one another, for Love is from God, and whoever Loves has been born of God and knows God. Anyone who does not Love does not know God, because God is Love. In this the Love of God was made manifest among us, that God sent His only Son into the world, so that we might live through Him. In this is Love, not that we have loved God but that He Loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins. Beloved, if God so Loved us, we also ought to Love one another. No one has ever seen God; if we Love one another, God abides in us and His Love is perfected in us… By this we know that we abide in Him and He in us, because He has given us of His Spirit. And we have seen and testify that the Father has sent His Son to be the Savior of the world. Whoever confesses that Jesus is the Son of God, God abides in Him, and he in God. So we have come to know and to believe the Love that God has for us. God is Love, and whoever abides in Love abides in God, and God abides in him. By this is Love perfected with us, so that we may have confidence for the day of judgment, because as He is so also are we in this world. There is no fear in Love, but perfect Love casts out fear. For fear has to do with punishment, and whoever fears has not been perfected in Love. We Love because He first Loved us. If anyone says, “I Love God,” and hates his brother, he is a liar; for he who does not Love his brother whom he has seen cannot Love God Whom he has not seen. And this commandment we have from Him: whoever Loves God must also Love his brother.
~ John, the Beloved Disciple, in 1 John 4
Oh beloved, it is true.
Life is really hard. There is no doubt about this. But, life is not complex. What makes it difficult is that we look the wrong direction. We look towards our own needs and feelings first.
There is again, no doubt about something. People have needs. And we, being people, and being the closest person to us, tend to look after our own life first. This seems entirely reasonable.
We hear it from our media sources.
Music tells us to “enjoy ourselves.”
Movies tells us we have everything we need, just “look inside yourself.”
Books tell us that to be successful, we need only to “improve ourselves.”
Friends (and maybe even our parents) modeled this self-ish lifestyle for us.
But all of it. All of this existence wherein we are the axle around which our own life turns, is a total lie. Not only do we miss the opportunity to Love others, we miss the opportunity to experience Love altogether.
As we look ever-more tightly inward; looking for the Love and satisfaction we so desperately need, we find nothing. And so, we obey the next reflex: to grab that love and satisfaction from others.
Can we see it?
As we look inside, or try to grab from others, a fear creeps across the entire landscape of our souls. Somehow we know we were made for abundance, but we are stuck in a desert of our own making.
So, as we reach out to G_d, His answer is clear. For, His answer is His Own Triune self. And the superstructure of this 3-in-1-in-3 Mystery is Love itself.
We find too, that Love is something completely other than we first thought. We thought love was a means for us to get what we needed. Oh, we sincerely thought we loved our family and friends. But sincerity is not always reality. However, as we look at G_d, we see it. Love is this complete concern for the wellbeing of Others, without regard for self. Love is willing the good of others – as other (read as: simply because they exist).
Once we begin to experience G_d, we experience Love. We sense the G_d who needs nothing from us, pouring His grace and healing and strength into our lives. And as we experience His Love, we begin to see that our fulfillment will come from the same fullness from which G_d operates.
We have been removed from the axial center of our lives. G_d has taken that place. And now, with a little more perspective we can choose to Live in the Love of G_d.
But, once we begin to Love, we notice something else. The fear that drove our selfish desires is deprived of our darkness. In the darkness’s place, a dawn of new courage (fullness of heart) begins to dawn. And, the prime motivator of our former existence is cast away from us – forever.
So, are you feeling alone and dark, and afraid. Look away from that dark, empty center beloved. Look to the One(s) Who have Loved you from all of eternity, and experience the lie of fear being replaced with the courage of Love.
“Choose what will motivate you in life as a whole. Will it be Love or Fear that sets you apart in this lifetime? Karma has no hold on our souls greater than a love known as grace. Or a fear of sheer torment during this sojourn of our Earthly trek. If you choose poorly then you shall be preyed upon and easily manipulated by your peers via numerous tactics of hate at large. If again you choose wisely than keep on your guard using reason with an unconditional love. Because a conditional love is flawed as a mixture of demands placed on it by the frail ego always. It has no place being called love in the absolute eyes of God…”
~Ivan Pozo-Illas
