"The Call to Love" (Chap.6 - Sr. Lucia's Book)

[MariaChristi]

Dear Brothers and Sisters,

Sister Lucia wrote:

“God is Love” – St. John the Apostles tells us --and as such He loves with an eternal love, in other words, from all eternity. We see this eternal presence of ours to God and in God foretold in a text of sacred Scripture which refers directly to Divine Wisdom – which was of course prior to creation as it is spread throughout creation – but which Holy Church has no difficulty in applying to our Lady:

“The LORD created me at the beginning of his work, the first of his acts of old. Ages ago, I was formed, at the first, before the earth. When there were no deeps I was brought forth, when there were no fountains or springs of water. Before the mountains were settled into place, before the hills, I was brought forth. When the earth and the fields were not yet made, nor the first clods of the world. When He established the heavens, there was I, when He marked out the vault over the face of the deep. When He made firm the skies above, when He fixed fast the springs of the deep; When He set for the sea its limit, so that the waters should not transgress His command; When He fixed the foundations of earth, then was I beside him…" (Prov 8: 22-30

There can be no doubt that of all creatures, Our Lady is the one who has been most loved by God. Nevertheless, from all eternity, we have all been equally present in the mind of God, and part of his creative design. Moreover, He created all other things for love of each one of us, because we have always been present to Him and loved by Him. We have an eternal debt of love to pay to God, a debt which can only be repaid as the centuries follow one another, though it can never be fully repaid because the love of God came first, and continually increases in intensity. Hence no one and nothing is as deserving as God is of a return of our love. (Underlining is mine)

This is a longer quote than I usually post but it was so beautiful – I didn’t want to shorten it. I hope you will take time to ponder the words and be blessed by them. I underlined the words that touched me in a special way. I had read that portion of Proverbs before and thought of Our Lady, but I had not realized that in a mysterious way, all of us were also in the mind of God being loved by Him eternally!

 

[acadiANNA]

Beautiful. I will have to find the book. Thank you for posting a most spiritual reading for today. God bless.

 

[Eric_Hyom]

Could it possibly be, that God loves each and every one of us as he loves himself?

 

[MariaChristi]

Beautiful. I will have to find the book. Thank you for posting a most spiritual reading for today. God bless.

Thanks for your reply, acadiANNA,

You can probably order this book online or through your local bookstore. We bought it years ago and I have read and re-read it many times. Re-reading it this time has been especially helpful to me; I think because I’m reading it more slowly, and pondering more!

See HERE for more info on the book.

 

[MariaChristi]

Could it possibly be, that God loves each and every one of us as he loves himself?

Dear Eric,

As I understand Sister Lucia’s words, quoting scripture “God is Love”, He created us in His Image and Likeness, therefore He loves us as a reflection of Himself. We were in the mind of God Who is eternal love even before He created us. He loved us so much, He sent His Son to save us after Adam and Eve sinned. By Jesus’ Life, Death, Resurrection and Ascension, we were reconciled us to God.

Through Christ’s Life, Death, Resurrection, and Ascension, we share in God’s Life, but we are not God as He is God and therefore He cannot love us in exactly the same way as the Trinity of Persons love. The Father loves the Son and the Son loves the Father and their mutual Love is the Person of the Holy Spirit. Three Persons in One God is a great Mystery. The Incarnation - The Word became Flesh - the Son took to Himself a human nature – another tremendous Mystery : two natures (Divine and human) in One Divine Person.

Jesus commands us to love one another as He has loved us, that is, with the Gift of Charity we receive at Baptism. We can love as Jesus loved us, because by God’s Grace we can love with the love we share in Him. Does that help? Reading John 15 - Jesus’ words on the Vine and the Branches may help too. I’ll also be posting more from Chap. 6 later.

 

[GLam8833]

I had an insight as to the Fruit of the
Tree of Life, being Jesus on the Cross
and the “New Eve” partaking of it’s
fruit to bring about a New Humanity!!

 

[Eric_Hyom]

I had an insight as to the Fruit of the
Tree of Life, being Jesus on the Cross
and the “New Eve” partaking of it’s
fruit to bring about a New Humanity!!

When Jesus spent his time on Earth, he would have lived by the greatest commandments, he could do nothing greater. But how did Jesus love all his neighbours as he loves himself? Those who condemned him to death and nailed him to the cross. We know that he prayed forgive them Father, they know not what they do.

It seems that nothing stood in the way of Jesus showing his love for all his neighbours, and living the greatest commandments. Love one another as I have loved you, by this, shall all men know that you are my disciples.

Just some thoughts.

 

[Eric_Hyom]

Dear Eric,

As I understand Sister Lucia’s words, quoting scripture “God is Love”, He created us in His Image and Likeness, therefore He loves us as a reflection of Himself. We were in the mind of God Who is eternal love even before He created us. He loved us so much, He sent His Son to save us after Adam and Eve sinned. By Jesus’ Life, Death, Resurrection and Ascension, we were reconciled us to God.

Through Christ’s Life, Death, Resurrection, and Ascension, we share in God’s Life, but we are not God as He is God and therefore He cannot love us in exactly the same way as the Trinity of Persons love. The Father loves the Son and the Son loves the Father and their mutual Love is the Person of the Holy Spirit. Three Persons in One God is a great Mystery. The Incarnation - The Word became Flesh - the Son took to Himself a human nature – another tremendous Mystery : two natures (Divine and human) in One Divine Person.

Jesus commands us to love one another as He has loved us, that is, with the Gift of Charity we receive at Baptism. We can love as Jesus loved us, because by God’s Grace we can love with the love we share in Him. Does that help? Reading John 15 - Jesus’ words on the Vine and the Branches may help too. I’ll also be posting more from Chap. 6 later.

Thanks for sharing, blessings, Eric

 

[MariaChristi]

I had an insight as to the Fruit of the
Tree of Life, being Jesus on the Cross
and the “New Eve” partaking of it’s
fruit to bring about a New Humanity!!

Dear GLam,

Thanks for your reply, surely Jesus on the Cross and Mary His Mother, standing beneath the Cross are the “New Adam” and the “New Eve” and all who are “born again” by Baptism into Christ are truly and mystically the “fruit of Mary’s womb” by their birth into New Life in Him.