361st Meditation
To know, honour and love the Father…
The knowledge of our Father through His daily details for us, through His Word and through the richness of the holy sacraments is intended to lead us step by step to understand that our whole existence is due to the great YES of God to us. This great YES is not only valid on a general level for all people, but has a very personal character: “I have called you by your name, you are mine” (Is 43:1). It is this paternal love of God that addresses each one of us directly, wanting to enter into that unique relationship of love, which is only possible to live in all its fullness with God Himself.
If we have united ourselves to a person through the bond of conjugal love, do we not long to spend time alone with him or her, to cultivate that intimacy and trust which are proper to this love? Now, we know that spousal love is a reflection of the soul’s relationship with God, which also demands this time alone.
So it is with our Heavenly Father, who is love itself and from whom all love proceeds. He too longs to be alone with a soul and asks it to take the time to do so. It is the longing of our God to address in a very personal and direct way His creature, whom He has elevated to be His child, and to cultivate that intimate love.
Why? The answer is simple; because He loves us as a divine Father. And He wants to show us this love in the uniqueness of a personal relationship, so that our love does not grow cold, but becomes a burning fire that will never be extinguished.
Such is our Father!