Lectio
“Love is the internal, affectively apprehended, aspect of the affinity which links and draws together the elements of the world… Love, in fact, is the expression and the agent of universal synthesis.”
— Pierre Teilhard de Chardin, Activation of Energy
Meditatio
Before there was pain, suffering, and death, there was Love. And long after this broken world has passed away — long after we pass away — Love will remain.
Love is the Alpha and the Omega. It is the source and the destination, the indwelling presence, so close to us that we cannot see it, and the horizon toward which we are drawn but will never reach of our own power in this life.
Love is the way, the truth, and the life. It is both what we long for and what we fight and die for, what we run to and run from. It is ever-present and yet we cannot see it, grasp it, or cling to it. Love is all in all, both the end and the means, the why and the wherefore.
When we acknowledge, consent to, and receive Love’s presence, we enter into heaven. When we deny, reject, or abandon Love, we assign ourselves to hell.
Love is not merely one gift from God among many. It is the gift of God poured out as God’s very self in and as creation, in and as our very selves — the internal affinity that links and draws together every element of the world, and every fragment of our own divided hearts. Love is closer to us than we are to ourselves because our true selves are Love.
Love is the healing, the wholeness, and the transfiguration of the world. It is Christ walking, talking, and living amongst and as us. And it is Christ weeping, bleeding, and dying with and for us. Love is both the Incarnation and the Resurrection.
Love is God in us. God is Love in us.
Oratio
The first Word
spoken into the world
before all
within all
as all in all
was Love
may this Word
be my guide
may this Word
shape my heart and mind
and all of my relationships
may this Word
be my Word
first and last
my all in all
may my life
begin
end
and be filled with
Love
Contemplatio
What would it mean to let Love be the first and last word of your day — not as a feeling, but as the ground you stand on?
Related Scripture
“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things came into being through him, and without him not one thing came into being. What has come into being in him was life, and the life was the light of all people.” — John 1:1–4 (NRSVCE)
For Further Reading
If you enjoyed this post, you may also like Already Loved: How God’s Infinite Love Calls Us to Love in Return, which explores what we are meant to do with lives already held in God’s infinite love — and how the great commandment is not the condition of Love’s presence, but our free response to it.
Robert Van Valkenburgh
Grappling With Divinity.
Wrestling With God.
Returning To Love.
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