God Loves Us and Wants Our Love
"Return to the Lord, your God, for he is gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love, and relents from punishing." - Joel 2:13
What can we say about God's love? We can say that God's love is unconditional. God does not say, "I love you, if …" There are no ifs in God's heart. God's love for us does not depend on what we do or say, on our looks or intelligence, on our success or popularity. God's love brings us into this life and carries us into the next. God's love is from eternity to eternity and is not bound to any time-related events or circumstances. Nor is it dependent on our faithfulness.
God invites us through the Lenten journey to return, to come back, to change: to enter the desert of our inner landscape to acknowledge areas of unfreedom and resistance and allow God's unconditional love to transform us. Fasting, alms-giving, and prayer are observances that rend our hearts to make room for Love without conditions.
Let us dare to be drawn deeper into an intimate relationship with God in generosity, honesty, and trust. "O God, my Creator and Redeemer, help me this Lent to deepen my awareness and appreciation of your awesome love for me."
- adapted from Henri Nouwen
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