God is Love

The First Letter of Saint John, which is assigned as the first reading for these days of the Christmas, is one of my favorites. Written towards the end of the first century, it is thought that this letter and the Gospel of Saint John come from the same school of Christian thought).

According to the introduction from the New American Bible, the author "insists that the concrete Christian life brings to life the deeper realities of the Gospel." In other words, we have to walk the talk.

The portions on love are most compelling to me. Love is not a by-product of faith...God is love! Four years ago this past Christmas Day, Pope Benedict XVI released his first encyclical which began with this famous Truth from 1 John 4:16:

God is love,
and he who abides in love abides in God,
and God abides in him.

This love, the author reminds us, comes first from God to each human being.

In this is love:
not that we have loved God, but that he loved us
and sent his Son as expiation for our sins.

The letter continues the discourse on love and the importance of loving neighbor and keeping the Lord's commandments.

These passages of Scripture are part of why I began this blog. Love, according to Saint Paul (I Cor. 13) is patient and kind, not jealous, pompous, inflated or rude, it forgives, it doesn't look out for self first, it is not quick-tempered and always rejoices in the truth. These are concrete manifestations of love, and for me they have also help to discern when I am truly expressing love and when I am not.

If "love is of God" (I John 4:7), then when we experience impatience, unkindness, hate, jealousy, rudeness or arrogance, these are not of God, because they are not love.

Pope Benedict's Encyclical, "God is Love," reminds us,

In a world in which the name of God is sometimes associated with vengeance or even a duty of hatred and violence, this message is both timely and significant. For this reason, I wish in my first Encyclical to speak of the love which God lavishes upon us and which we in turn must share with others (1).