The WORD in other words (2022) by Fr Wilfredo Saniel SVD – Catholic Trade Manila
Wednesday 2nd Week of Easter
God’s love is self-giving. It is said that love has many meanings. Others say it cannot be truly defined. But many agree that love is an expression of an inner desire. That inner desire is to give oneself away. Love is not love until it is given away to the beloved. We come closer to an experience of who God is by his self- giving love.
God gave his only Son. In loving, God gave his Son. It is God himself through his Son, the Word of God made flesh. Couples who were united in the sacrament of marriage are concrete examples. Husband and wife totally give themselves to each other. What is given is not a ‘something.’ What is given is a ‘somebody.’ The spirit of mutual self-giving is the spirit of God’s love. The medium through which this self-giving is manifested is through the flesh or through the body. True love is not simply an emotion or a feeling. It is God’s self-giving at work in our human lives.
God’s motive in his self-giving and by giving his Son is that everyone who believes in him might have eternal life. The goal of God’s love is eternal life. When we live in God’s love, we already begin eternal life here on earth. The God who loves is eternal. In our unity with God’s love, we live with God, in God, and through God. This is eternity, our heaven here on earth.
Our human life on earth is a journey to God, a heavenly life. We can say it in Tagalog: biyaheng langit dito sa lupa.
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