God is Love

 Reflection on Today's Readings, Tuesday after Epiphany of the Lord, January 4th, 2022
Texts: 1 John 4:7- 10; Psalm 72:1 -2.3-4ab.7-8; Mark 6:34 - 44
God is love and so all His deeds are prompted by love. To say that God is love is to say it is impossible for His deeds to be done out of love. It also means anything that is not love has no place in Him. Hence, the way to have relationship with God is to love. This is clear in the words of St. John: "Beloved, let us love one another; for love is of God, and he who loves is born of God and knows God. He who does not love does not know God; for God is love." We are to love because God is love, so that we may be identified with Him. Since God is love, we know Him when we love. So also since we cannot do what is not within our nature, to love is to be born of God, for to be born of God is to have the nature of God, love. Our capacity to love is the testimony of God's image in us.
St. John also tells us that love is the meaning of God's manifestation in the flesh. He says, "In this the love of God was made manifest among us, that God sent his only-begotten Son into the world, so that we might live through him." God's love is revealed in His sending of His Son for our salvation. In revealing His love, He also reveals Himself, for He is love. This brings to mind the description of Jesus Christ in the letter to the Hebrews: "He is the reflection of God's glory and the exact imprint of God's very being" (1:3). Jesus Christ is the love of God. Being love, Jesus Christ becomes the way to God and, so everyone who lives through Him finds God and have life. Hence, it is said, "God sent his only-begotten Son into the world, so that we might live through him." This is an invitation to make Jesus Christ our vision; we are to see in Him the kind of life to live. We are to live through Him, we are to have life through Him, we are to live like Him, we are to love like Him, we are to keep His words.
 In the revelation of God's love we come to know what love is. We know that ove is a grace, an unmerited gift. The love is unconditional; it is for the good of the beloved. Hence, St. John says, "In this is love, not that we loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the expiation for our sins." God loves us and always works for our good. The love of God is creative and redemptive; it redeems and saves. That is what love is. Any act or deed that does not redeem and save is not a deed or an act of love. Our acts and deeds are full of love if they redeem and save. Our deeds and acts should always aim at redeeming and saving souls.
The deeds of Jesus Christ, in today's gospel reading, are deeds of love, for they redeem and save. It is said, "Jesus saw a great throng, and he had compassion on them, because they were like sheep without a shepherd; and he began to teach them many things." Jesus Christ did not teach the people to become wolves, armed robbers, terrorists, etc but to redeem and save them from ignorance and perdition. He revealed to them the truth and the right path of life; He taught them to love. When they were hungry, He also fed them. Both His teaching and feeding of the people aim at redeeming and saving the people. This means we should live our lives to redeem and save souls.

God, who has revealed His love in the manifestation of His Son in the flesh, grant, we pray, that we may be inwardly transformed and be full of love through him who teaches us to love. Amen

Fr. Andrew Olowomuke