“May the God of steadfastness and encouragement grant you to live in such harmony with one another, in accord with Christ Jesus, that together you may with one voice glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ” (Rom 15:5-6).
This is the deepest source of true unity among us human beings. Jesus leads His own to this unity when they accept the Father’s great offer of love, believe in His Son and follow Him. This glorifies our Father and leads us to our true destiny, for that is what we have been called to do. This is our true joy and our greatest happiness!
We do not achieve all this on our own, although we are certainly called to cultivate God’s grace and to do everything in our power not to lose it. But it was the overwhelming love of our Father that called us to life to make us sharers in His incomparable joy. Already here on earth we experience a foretaste of eternal bliss, which may be so strong that we are able to leave everything behind for its sake. In eternity our bliss will be joy in the Lord. The mystic Henry Suso expressed this in a wonderful phrase in Old German, which is difficult to translate, but whose meaning is more or less as follows:
“O tender God, if already in Thy creature we find Thee so loving, how much more blissful Thou wilt be in Thyself!”
God’s love is our great discovery for time and eternity. We will never tire of it, nor will it ever diminish. On the contrary, it will always increase! God’s joy is to shower us with His blessings and to share eternity with Him. Oh, if only people would know this and return to the Father’s house! All heaven is waiting, and our Father is longing for us!