When
I was a child in catechism class, one of the first questions we memorized was:
“Why did God make you?” We were taught: “God made me to know Him, to love Him,
to serve Him in this world, and to be happy with Him forever in heaven.”
This
simple answer holds the whole Christian life in miniature. But how do we actually know the
God whom we do not see? How do we move from words, from what we have learned in
catechism and theology books, to a living relationship with the One who made
us?
St.
John captures this fundamental question of faith when he writes: “If anyone
says, ‘I love God,’ and hates his brother, he is a liar; for he who does not
love his brother whom he has seen, how can he love God whom he has not seen?”
(cf. 1 John 4:20).
In
today’s first reading, St. John gives us the answer in three words: “God is
love.” Not that God has love, but that love is His very nature.
Everything He does flows from that truth. This is a radical statement, and
deeply profound.
Our
knowledge of God begins with Sacred Scripture. The question of “who God is” has been at the heart
of human inquiry for centuries, among both philosophers and theologians.
Karl
Barth, in his work Church Dogmatics: The Doctrine of the Word of God,
states that God alone speaks rightly about God. Human beings know God only
because God reveals Himself. Every true word about God depends on God’s
initiative, not on human speculation or autonomous reasoning.
Barth
insists that revelation is not merely information about God, but the very act
by which God makes Himself known. God is simultaneously the subject, the
object, and the content of revelation. Hence the often-repeated formula: Only
God speaks well of God.
If
we truly understand that the purpose of life is to know God, to love Him, to
worship and serve Him, and thereby to make Him known, loved, worshiped, and
adored, our entire outlook on life is transformed.
Pope
Benedict XVI reminded us in his encyclical Deus Caritas Est that God’s love is not a feeling,
but a gift of Himself. His love is faithful and personal. It is given without
condition, even when we turn away, even when our sins crucify Him anew.
This
love becomes visible in Jesus. St. John tells us that God sent His Son for two
reasons, two sides of the same gift.
First,
“God sent his only Son into the world so that we might have life through him.” Not
mere survival, but real life: life with purpose, peace, and eternal hope.
In Christ, God draws near so we can know Him intimately as a Father who walks
with us and cares for us.
Second,
“He sent his Son as an offering for our sins.” That word “offering” means
reconciliation. On the cross, Jesus bore the weight of our brokenness so that
nothing would stand between us and God. His death was not the end of love; it
was love’s greatest act.
And
that brings us to both the challenge and the joy of this Gospel. If God has
loved us like this, St. John says, “we also ought to love one another.” If we
truly believe we are created in God’s image and likeness, then we must reflect
His love in our daily lives.
We
know that our capacity to love, the love God originally placed in us, has been
wounded by sin. As
a result, we often become more selfish; our ego tends to dominate. St. John
shows us that our healing and liberation come through intentionally and
consciously practicing selfless love in simple, daily gestures: being attentive
to others’ needs, as Jesus was; being patient ; (Cfr Mark 6, 34-44), being slow
to judge or condemn. Selfless love means forgiveness, no matter how long it
takes. It means seeing the person others overlook and treating them with love
and dignity as God’s children.
In
the Gospel of Mark 6:34–44, Jesus allowed His heart to be moved when He saw the
crowd, whom He described as “a flock without a shepherd.” He preached the Good
News to them so they might be saved by the knowledge of “the truth that saves.”
But
Jesus also knew they were human and had other needs, they were hungry and
needed food. When He presented the crowd’s need to His disciples, they tried to
avoid the challenge and suggested sending the people away.
Patiently,
Jesus involved them in the miracle of the multiplication of the loaves and
fishes. This reveals a profound truth: God works with the little we offer. Our
small capacity to love, when given to Him, can be transformed to nourish many
souls who are starving, not for bread, but for love.
And
in that freely given love, given without counting the cost, we begin to live
the very purpose for which we were made : to know God, to love Him, and to share
His love with the world.
That
is how we prepare to be happy with Him here on earth, and how we ready
ourselves to share eternal happiness with Him in heaven.
Let
us pray:
Lord,
You are love itself.
Form my heart to love as You love,
freely, faithfully, and without condition.
Help me see You in my brothers and sisters,
serve You in daily acts of mercy,
and live each day for the purpose You gave me:
to know You, love You, and share Your joy with the world.
Amen. 🙏🙏🙏
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