369th Meditation
To know, honour and love the Father…
The most important and essential must take first place in our life.
“‘Master, which is the greatest commandment of the Law?’ Jesus said to him, ‘You must love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind. This is the greatest and the first commandment” (Mt 22:36-38).
All our previous reflections on knowing and honouring God pointed to this goal: to love our Father with all our heart, with all our soul and with all our mind. That’s what it’s all about!
If we strive to do so – with the help of the Holy Spirit, who cries out in us “Abba, beloved Father” (Rom 8:15) – we will be on the right path. Then we will no longer have to seek it, but only walk it and grow day by day in love. The three things that the Father asks of us will help us never to tire: by knowing Him, we can penetrate ever more deeply into the mystery of His love; by honouring Him, our gaze is gratefully focused on Him and prevents us from focusing too much on ourselves; by loving Him, our heart is inflamed and moves us to express this love more and more to Him, to live ever more closely united to God.
To whom does our heart belong, to what is it still attached, and how can we free it and awaken it fully to the love of God and neighbour?
The answer is simple: God Himself makes us capable of love. It is simply up to us to turn to Him and accept His invitation. Then it will be the Holy Spirit who watches over our hearts, urging us to follow the invitation of love and making us aware of it when we have not done so. If we ask Him and open the doors to Him, He will descend into the depths of our heart and spread His light there; He who is the love between the Father and the Son. Then it will be possible for us to love!