Over the last week, I have had an image of two people falling in love. I remembered falling in love myself, and how I wanted to do things to make that person’s life more comfortable and to do little things for them in order to express my love for them. It made me ponder how many of us live a Christian life because it is what we’ve been taught or otherwise think it is the right way of living. How many of us have truly encountered Jesus, fallen in love, and wished to do things in order to express our love of him? How many of us practice virtue and/or serve others to express our gratitude for his life, death, and resurrection? In other words, how much of our Christian behavior is filled with joy because it is something we do in response to love as opposed to something that we do out of a sense of obligation?
Spend some time with the Holy Spirit pondering your life story in relation to your encounters with God. What motivates you to live the Christian life? Don’t be surprised if you, like me, find that the answer is multifaceted. The purpose of this exercise is to hone in on how much of your faith walk is a response to love; how much of it is a joyful expression of your love of him. If you do not like the answer, spend some time praying for the gift of a loving response to his mercy and kindness.
In Him,
Ms. Debra D. Weldon, O.P., JD, MTS
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