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Cross Catholic Blog
- April 29, 2011
Demonstrating God’s Love
The world is abuzz about this weekend’s biggest event: England’s royal wedding between Prince William and Catherine (aka Kate) Middleton. Thousands of spectators are already lining the expected wedding route, and top media outlets promise to begin coverage at 4 a.m. Eastern Time the day of the big event.
The royal wedding has us thinking about how wonderful love is in its many forms, such as love between spouses, between parents and children, and between friends. Earthly love plays a major role in our journey through life, because we often craft our lives to be satisfactory not only for ourselves, but also for our loved ones.
The words of 1 John 3:16 point to how we can model our love for others after Christ’s love for us through sacrifice: “This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers and sisters.”
We can put our love for God into action by reaching out to the poorest of the poor.
We work hard, carry extra burdens, and sometimes sacrifice our own comfort for the sake of those we love, knowing their presence in our lives is special. Love for others even brings us closer to God: “Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love” (1 John 4:8).
Yet we also know earthly love is transcended by the heavenly love God has for us. When asked what the greatest commandment is, Jesus said the following in Matthew 22:37-39: “Jesus replied: ‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: Love your neighbor as yourself.’”
As Catholics, we’re called to put God first, no matter what. Our relationship with him should be the central focus of our lives, consuming our heart, soul, and mind. Plus, only through our commitment to completely love Christ can we fully open our hearts to others.
One way we can put our relationship with God into action is by showing love to those who need it most, the hungry, sick, and down-trodden. Click here to read about how you can demonstrate God’s love to the poorest of the poor today.
