Lectio
“Owe no man any thing, but to love one another. Not that we are not to pay the debt of love, for this we ought to discharge before any thing else, but that we should increase it by that payment; for such discharge augments the debt, in that it makes love the warmer; for he that loveth another hath fulfilled the law. For he who is kindly disposed towards any one, kills not him whom he thus loves, commits not adultery with his wife, steals not any thing belonging to the object of his affectionate regard, nor does any other thing which might give him pain; for so he subjoins, Love worketh no ill to his neighbour; and then drawing his conclusion, therefore love is the fulfilling of the law.”
— Theodoret of Cyrus, Commentary on Romans
Meditatio
God’s will for us is not complicated. His will is that we love Him and that we love each other, and that to do one of these things is to do the other, that to love God means that we love His creatures and to love His creatures means that we love Him. While this is simple on its face, it is certainly not easy in practice. In fact, for those of us who have internal leanings toward selfishness, self-centeredness, and all of the self-will that follows these inclinations toward self and away from other, to love God and our neighbors may be the most difficult task of all.
But this command to love often feels like a debt to Him who paid the ultimate price for us. This is what is owed to Him who gave His own life that we may live. This is the price we are asked to pay for what we have received freely and eternally, and the price is, in fact, the reward. To love God and each other is to give ourselves over to the very love that gives itself over to us in and as our very existence, as the breath we breathe, the beating of our hearts, and the Spirit that animates us in this life.
Our love, however, is owed not to either man or woman, for they have done no more to deserve it than we, but our love is owed to our Lord and Savior who loved and loves us in spite of our unworthiness, and, somehow, to love our neighbors, even in their undeserving, is to love Him and to do His will. And though we can never truly repay a debt that was never meant to be repaid, what He asks of us is to love anyway — to love Him anyway, and to love each other anyway. For salvation is not a debt discharged but a love that keeps moving through us, the way water given to a channel is not returned to its source but carries on toward what is next. We do not buy our way into what has already been given. We give away what has been given to us.
Oratio
against Your law
have indeed
been crimes
against love
a love I have not known
a love I have not received
a love I have not given
yet which is given
eternally to me
if only by grace
I might consent
if only by mercy
I may release my grasp
on these tablets of stone
that drag me down
to the depths of despair
then I may assent to love
then I may ascend to Love
for You and all whom You love
Ascend To Love
for all of my crimes
against Your law
have indeed
been crimes
against love
a love I have not known
a love I have not received
a love I have not given
yet which is given
eternally to me
if only by grace
I might consent
if only by mercy
I may release my grasp
on these tablets of stone
that drag me down
to the depths of despair
then I may assent to love
then I may ascend to Love
for You and all whom You love
Contemplatio
You have carried this command to love like a debt too heavy to pay, but it was never a ledger to balance. It is water moving through you, asking only that you let it keep moving — toward the ones you have not yet forgiven, the ones who have not deserved it, the ones who are, somehow, no different from you. Loosen your grip on what you thought you owed. Rest here a while longer, offering no resistance to His presence, and let Him do with you what only He can do.
Related Scripture
“Those who say, ‘I love God,’ and hate a brother or sister are liars, for those who do not love a brother or sister, whom they have seen, cannot love God, whom they have not seen. The commandment we have from him is this: those who love God must love their brothers and sisters also.”
For Further Reading
If you enjoyed this post, you may also like Not the Sweetness, But the Giver: John of the Cross and the Freedom Beyond Consolation, which turns from a different angle toward the same call to loosen your grip — not on tablets of stone, but on the very consolations of God, so that what remains is Him alone.
Robert Van Valkenburgh
Grappling With Divinity.
Wrestling With God.
Returning To Love.
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