Skip to main content

Let’s fill ourselves with God’s love

IF we really want to be in love, let’s fill ourselves first of all with the source of love who is none other than God. “Deus caritas est,” God is love, as St. John says, indicating the ultimate essence of God. And since we are his image and likeness, we cannot be other than men and women full of love, of God’s love.

We have to be wary of distorting this fundamental truth about ourselves by simply generating our own kind of love that will always be limited, highly conditioned, effective only under what we consider to be favorable conditions.
We have to make the effort to feel the love of God for us which he pours on us abundantly. That’s simply because unless we feel that love and get moved by it, we cannot manage to love as we ought to love. Let’s always remember that Christ himself commanded us to love one another as he himself has loved us. Christ makes himself the standard and source of our love.


Otherwise, what may happen is that we may just rely on our own self-generated kind of love that can only do so much. For example, our self-generated love would not know how to be patient for long with trials and sufferings, how to love and be merciful with those who give us trouble.

It would be a love ruled by the law of Talion, eye for an eye, tooth for a tooth. It would be a love marked by self-interest. In other words, it would not be pure and completely gratuitous. There would be strings attached to it. Also, it cannot last long. It would be too dependent on our moods, and other shifting conditionings.

We cannot give to others what we do not have. We cannot reap what we have not sown, and what we sow is first of all sown in us by God himself, who is our Creator, Father and everything to us. He is the one who gives us the full scope of the love proper to us. Not only that, he gives us the power to live it abidingly.

We readily see this law of love working even in our normal family life. A baby, for example, knows nothing about loving when he is born. But he is immediately showered with love and affection, and learns to reciprocate in his own ways, which we often describe as “cute.”

What is given to the baby is given back to us, and what he observes and receives as he grows is also what he shows and shares with others. That’s why it is very important that the young ones are always given good example of loving, caring, serving others, etc. Otherwise, they can become self-centered and selfish.

Everyday, we should work out this need of filling ourselves with God’s love, since this does not come to us automatically. In the first place, we have to contend with our human and natural limitations that simply cannot cope with the fullness of God’s love.

This is not to mention that we are also burdened by the effects of our sins and weaknesses, the environment of temptations and other conditionings that would make us not only insensitive and resistant but also hostile to God’s love.

That’s why it’s good to cultivate a life of recollection and contemplation even while in the middle of the world, ever meditating and relishing on God’s goodness, wisdom, love and mercy.

That he created us when there was no need for him to do so, that he endowed us with the best of things such that we become his image and likeness, that he always forgives us when we fall and is patient with us in our erratic ways, that he provides us with all our needs—all these and more should always be in our mind and heart.

Even if he allows trials, suffering and calamities to come our way, we should not forget that his love knows what to do with them. As St. Paul would put it, “Love bears all things, hopes all things, endures all things…” (1 Cor 13,7)

How important therefore that our thinking and even our sensibility is infused with piety, a piety that is supported by a theological mind, so that we would always be aware of God never-failing love for us. And not only that, but also that we would be moved to love God and others in return.


We should do everything to fill ourselves with God’s love. On God’s part, he is never sparing in giving us that love to us. It’s up to us to have it as much as we can!

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Empanada festival: A celebration of good taste and good life

By Dominic B. dela Cruz & Leilanie G. Adriano Staff reporters BATAC CITY—If there is one thing Batac is truly proud of, it would be its famous empanada-making business that has nurtured its people over the years. Embracing a century-old culture and culinary tradition, Batac’s empanada claims to be the best and tastiest in the country with its distinctive Ilokano taste courtesy of its local ingredients: fresh grated papaya, mongo, chopped longganisa, and egg. The crispy orange wrapper and is made of rice flour that is deep-fried. The celebration of this city’s famous traditional fast food attracting locals and tourists elsewhere comes with the City Charter Day of Batac every 23 rd  of June. Every year, the City Government of Batac led by Mayor Jeffrey Jubal Nalupta commemorate the city’s charter day celebration to further promote its famous One-Town, One Product, the Batac empanada. Empanada City The Batac empanada festival has already become an annua

PIDS expert says income tax cuts justified; warns gov’t of revenue loss

Proposals to amend the personal income tax schedule appear to be well-justified. However, these proposals should include measures that will allow government to recover the revenue loss from lower income taxes. Dr. Rosario Manasan, senior research fellow of state think-tank Philippine Institute for Development Studies (PIDS), said at a seminar sponsored by the Philippine Senate, that government should look for new revenue measures to compensate for the projected revenue loss that will arise as a result of the implementation of any of the various proposals to restructure the personal income tax. Currently, there are several income tax reform proposals pending in both houses of Congress. All of them, according to Dr. Manasan, have the same objective of addressing the phenomenon of bracket creep, which results from “non-indexation to inflation of personal income tax brackets”. Simply put, bracket creep occurs when employees’ income increases over time as a result of inflation. Th

PGIN honors Ilocano heroes of past, present through Heroes Walk

SPO1 Allan Lampitoc Franco of Banna, Ilocos Norte and PO2 Jovalyn D. Lozano of Adams, Ilocos Norte receive a resolution of commendation, a certificate of college scholarship grant to their family members and a P20,000 cash incentive each from the Provincial Government of Ilocos Norte represented by Governor Imee R. Marcos and Vice Governor Angelo M. Barba in recognition of their bravery and heroic acts in the Mamasapano clash in Maguindanao on January 25. Mr. Franco and Mr. Lozano were recognized on March 10 in time for the unveiling of the second batch of Ilocano heroes at the Heroes Walk located along the Sirib Mile in Laoag City.  (Lei Adriano) By Jennifer T. Pambid PGIN-CMO In honor of the heroes who brought freedom, fame and glory to the province as well as to the country in the past century, the Provincial Government of Ilocos Norte (PGIN) through the Education Department and Sirib Youth Office launched the second batch of Ilocano Heroes Walk on March 10, 2015.