[The following six part blog is a revised version of a Lenten reflection given to my Lay Dominican Chapter on March 11, 2024. All italicized names are references to sources, which will be fully listed at the end.]
Our talk today is called God is Love, but, it is less about what it means that God is love, and more about what it means for us that God is love. But let’s start at the beginning, and go from there.
First, it seems to me that we have to start by asking ourselves – what is love? The answer to this question is Jesus, who fully reveals to us the God who is love. His incarnation, life, death, and resurrection tell us that the definition of love is selflessness and self-giving. Pope Benedict highlights this when he said, “[I]n dying on the Cross, by giving himself in order to raise and save man, Jesus expressed love in its most sublime form.” BXVI.
We can also explain this definition of love in the incarnation where Jesus selflessly gave up all the glory of heaven, emptied himself, entered into his creation, and became one of us. Phil 2:6. We can go even further and say that Jesus became man so that we might become what he is. 2 Peter 1:4 [human participation in the divine nature]. This concept has been called theosis, deification, or divinization throughout the history of Christianity.
So, the Word became flesh so that we could become one with God who is love; however, to experience such union we must first share in the nature of his only begotten Son. We must put on Christ to share in the divinity of God. Romans 13:14. Put differently, our status as children of God is in the body of Christ. Olson. We must become one with him who is the only begotten Son of the Father to become all that we were intended to be.
This then brings us to the question of whether we want to become one with him. I imagine the answer for all of us is yes, but no. I mean look at St. Paul who after his major conversion still bemoaned the fact that he did what he didn’t want to do. Rom 7:18-25. Something within us seems to resist this movement towards becoming love. While we were created good, and maintain that ontological goodness instilled in us at creation, human nature is a fallen nature.
Paul used a couple of metaphors when he spoke of this nature – 1) flesh and spirit and 2) the old and the new man. In the next segment, I will elaborate on this Old Man metaphor, and try to shed some light on some of the things that need to happen in us if we are to become one with God who is love.
In Him,
dw
thoughtsofacrazywoman.blog 