Word to the Wise
Thursday, January 9, 2025 - Thursday after Epiphany, or Jan. 10
[1 John 4:19-5:4 and Luke 4:14-22a]Beloved, we love God because he first loved us. If anyone says, "I love God," but hates his brother, he is a liar, for whoever does not love a brother whom he has seen cannot love God whom he has not seen. This is the commandment we have from him: Whoever loves God must also love his brother. [1 John] "Today this Scripture passage has been fulfilled in your hearing." [Luke]
The Book of Genesis tells us that the human person was created in the image and likeness of God. This was and continues to be the first act of love. St. Thomas Aquinas famously taught that love is "diffusive of itself." This means that God cannot help but love because God is love itself. We are the subjects of God's love. But we also have the gift of free will that makes it possible for us to choose not to love. St. Augustine taught that love is an act of the will. How willing are we to love?
On retreats I ask four questions taken from Dominican heritage - the four "pillars of Dominican life. How am I praying? How am I learning? How am I loving? How am I serving? With the question, How am I loving?, I point out how God has created us as an act of love, and we are, as it were, "hard-wired" for love. But it is not just a matter of a love-feast between an individual and God. One's neighbor has to be the subject of our love if we want to love God. In short, love must be "incarnate" and not just an act of piety. Much will depend on how we were raised because the family is the first school of love. It is in the family that we are first taught how to receive and give love. So, whether on retreat or simply reflecting, it can be useful to do a "history of love" in our lives to see if we are indeed the fulfillment of Christ's command to love one another. Are we literally fulfilling Christ's command in the life of another person? Do we "incarnate" God's love? AMEN