God’s Love: Creative, Sacrificial, Unconditional

Whoever is without love does not know God, for God is love. We have come to know and believe in the love God has for us. God is love, and whoever remains in love remains in God and God in him.

1 John 4:8,16

The Trinity

St. John affirms that, “God is love.” God’s very being is love.

By sending his only Son and the Spirit of Love in the fullness of time, God has revealed his innermost secret. God himself is an eternal exchange of love, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, and has destined us to share in that exchange.¹

The first eighteen verses of John’s gospel reveals to us that God’s Son, the second person of the Trinity is the Word. Because God is spirit this word would not be spoken, rather it would be more like a thought in his mind. What thought or idea in God’s mind would in fact be God?

Christian thinking saw early that it could be only the idea God has of himself.²

When you and I think of ourselves our concepts are imperfect. We are imperfect beings to begin with. But, we also tend to lie to ourselves, or, at the very least, rationalize about our true nature. But, God’s concept of himself must be perfect, and absolutely complete. So perfect, in fact, that there is really no difference between the thinker and the thought. God is perfect, so his conception of himself is perfectly himself. This thought, the Word, has been revealed to us as Jesus, the only begotten Son of God.

In the Bible the term “to know” is normally understood to refer to sexual union, but I think it means something deeper. Knowledge of another is to be intimate with him. Sexually intimate, yes, when appropriate, but doesn’t that also mean to know him well enough that you can come to complete his thoughts? In this way God the Father and God the Son know each other to the N^th degree and love each other perfectly.

Their love is infinite; its expression cannot be less… Each gives himself wholly to the outpouring of his love for the other, holding nothing back – indeed the very thought of holding back is ridiculous; if they give themselves at all they can only give themselves totally. The utter love of Father and Son is infinite, lacks no perfection that they have; is God, a person, someone [the Holy Spirit].³

Think of the Trinity this way:

In the Son, the Father utters his self-knowledge; in the Holy Spirit, Father

and Son utter their mutual love.⁴

God himself is an eternal exchange of love, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, and

has destined us to share in that exchange.⁵

God’s Love: Creative

This boundless love of the Trinity is poured forth in creation. All of creation is an expression of God’s love. Look at the lavishness of his love.

Look up at a starry night. Can you begin to fathom the vastness of the universe? You would have to travel four years at the speed of light to reach the nearest night star. It would take 27,000 years to reach the edge of our galaxy. Beyond that are billions of other galaxies to be explored. And here we are on an oasis planet in the midst of all that incredible expanse. Heated by a star of just the right size, circling at just the right distance to provide a hospitable climate, tilted on its axis to give us seasons, circled by a moon whose gravitational pull on the tides powers a pump to replenish our atmosphere.

Look about you at all the beauty in the great and the small. At a mountain range capped with snow, its toes nestled in a carpet of brilliant green trees. Look at the ant busily scurrying back to the nest with food for the colony. Look into a single cell, so intricate. The activity and complexity rivals the hustle and bustle of the busiest city.

Mankind

God’s creation; incredible, an expression of God’s love. But, why? Why did God create? If God is perfect, absolutely complete, wanting nothing, and He is, then what would it benefit him to create the universe and to

create mankind?

Scripture and Tradition never cease to teach this fundamental truth; ”The world was

made for the glory of God.”

St. Bonaventure explains that God created all things “not to increase his glory, but to show forth and communicate it, for God has no other reason for creating than his love and goodness.” Thomas Aquinas tells us that, “creatures came into existence when the key of love opened his hand.”⁶

That is, when the key of love opened God’s hand.

God’s glory is shown forth in the manifestation and communication of his goodness.

That will be secured when we enter into his heavenly family. He wanted to have his creatures share in his being, wisdom and goodness.⁷

The Trinity’s own immense, boundless love burst forth in a creative act of love. It seems that infinite love could not be contained and sought to express itself in a relationship with us.

St. Catherine of Sienna asks, “What made you establish man in so great a dignity? Certainly the incalculable love by which you have looked on your creatures in yourself! You are taken with love for her; for by love indeed you created her, by love you have given her a being capable of tasting your eternal good.⁸

How impossibly incredible it is to think that we could be the objects of that very love which is the source of the totality of the universe. And yet, we are. In fact, we are the crown of creation. Why?

Because, of all visible creatures only man is able to know and love his creator.

“For him the heavens and earth, the sea and all the rest of creation exist.” [St John Chrystosom]⁹

We are created to be co-heirs with Christ: adopted sons and daughters. When St. Paul wrote about this mystery he used Roman adoption as the example, emphasizing that those adopted under Roman law enjoyed all the rights and privileges of a natural-born son. So, when we are called co-heirs with Christ that means that in a very real sense, through the love and mercy of God, we are elevated to the status of divine; really part of God’s family.

We are called to take a position above the angels. While most of the angels marvel and rejoice in this mystery, Lucifer and his legions could not tolerate it. From the Bible we know that Lucifer was once supreme among the seraphim. But, he committed the deadly sin of pride; he imagined himself equal to

God.

I have long suspected, as have some of God’s saints, that Lucifer rebelled when he learned of the Almighty’s plan to elevate man above the angels. Lucifer was supreme among the angels, but could never be divine. Puny man, however, with all of his shortcomings, would one day share in God’s divinity as part of his family. I have thought that to be too much for Lucifer’s pride to bear. That is my opinion.

I believe that Lucifer has come to hate mankind precisely because of the love and great privilege God has granted us. Lucifer’s hatred for us drove him to try to drive a wedge between Adam and Eve, our first parents, and God by inspiring pride and envy in Eve’s heart; insinuating that God was holding out on her. God knew that she and Adam would become his equals if they would eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. That is the lie Lucifer told Eve. Eve ate from the tree, believing the lie, and persuaded Adam to do the same.

Lucifer must have believed that he had destroyed God’s plan for his heavenly family. But, he was not considering the lavishness of God’s love.

God’s Love: Sacrificial

For us to try to comprehend the depth of God’s love we need only look at the passion of Christ. The agony he endured in the garden anticipating the torture to come. The beating with whips 39 times – front and back. The crowning with thorns. His beard ripped out, bloody and beaten; no longer recognizable as human. Driven through the streets, falling under the weight of the cross, crashing hard to the cruel stone pavement, again, and again. Nails pounded into his wrists and feet. Hanging on the cross for three hours in agony, fighting against excruciating pain for every breath.

The Romans could devise no more cruel torture. Crucifixion was so horrendous that it was forbidden that any Roman citizen be crucified. But Christ endured it all for you and me. Indeed, if you were the only person to be saved by his death he would have still gone through it all, holding nothing back because of his immense love for you.

God’s Love: Unconditional

God’s love is sacrificial. It is also unconditional. Imagine if you were asked to give your life in order to save the life of someone you love. It is just possible that you would be able to do that. But, imagine being asked

to give the life of your son or daughter for the life of an enemy.

Knowing that his own Son would have to endure the terrible torture of the whips, the crown, and the cross, God the Father still willed that his Son endure that for us while we were still estranged from him, while we were still steeped in sin. God created us with a free will that he will not violate. As intensely as he loves us and wants to receive our love, he wants our love to be an act of free will. He does not want robots, but children who come to love him freely in response to his awesome love.

So, God’s love is unconditional. His heart is broken by those who turn their backs on him. But, he loves them no less and he still would have endured watching the sacrifice for his Son to have made it possible that they could attain eternity in heaven as part of his divine family.

Marriage

Another immense wonder is how God has created and called us, man and woman, to participate in his creative love. Man and woman unite in love, completely vulnerable to one another, but protected by unconditional vows of honor, respect and faithfulness; united as one body, seeking the most intimate

possible physical union. Out of this loving expression springs new life, a new creation.

“New human beings are God’s greatest work, and parents have the honor of being God’s chosen instruments in producing and raising them. To quote from the marriage ritual: ’You are called to work with God in the greatest work of creation – the continuation of the human race.’ “¹⁰

The physical components are provided by the man and woman, to which God adds a new soul, a new son or daughter for the Heavenly Father. What a privilege it is to be asked to participate in God’s creation in this way.

Love ties all of creation together. It is both the source and the goal of creation. We are created to love, and, we hope, destined to share in God’s love for all of eternity. It is surprising, then, that we are so confused about the nature of love.

The Meaning of Love

One source of our difficulty rises from the poverty of the English language. We use one word to express so many nuances of emotion and will. Also, we tend to confuse loving with liking.

To “like“ is to receive pleasure or enjoyment. To “love” is to give, that is, to do what is good for the beloved. To understand the meaning of love, look at the word “benevolence”. This word contains the elements of genuine love.

Taken from the Latin bene (“well”) and volens (“wish”), “benevolence” thus means “to wish well” or what is good for another, for someone else. Consequently,

a. If I love my children, I wish their good.

b. If I love my husband or his parents, I want what is good for them.

c. If I love God, I want what is good for God.

Note: In all of these loves there is not necessarily an emotional uplift. The motive for love lies in the will, that is, in the desire and act of our spiritual faculty.¹¹

Did you catch the implication in the difference between liking and loving? We need not necessarily like someone to love him. What Jesus asked of us when he preached on the mount was that we love our enemies. He is calling us to an indomitable spirit of goodwill that always wishes the best for the other person.

That is hard enough, at times, to do with people we like dearly. To maintain that attitude toward an enemy isn’t natural. Truthfully, it is a victory over the instinctive emotions of the natural man.¹² We can never truly achieve that attitude consistently without God’s grace.

It is precisely that kind of loving attitude that needs to be the basis of all of our relationships. It needs to be the norm for how we treat everyone. Now, you and I know that what is good for us is not always pleasant. For example, if someone commits an act of violence against us, to love him, to wish the best for him may mean praying for his incarceration, repentance and rehabilitation. We should forgive those who sin against us and not wish retribution, but justice is sometimes demanded.

The Greek noun agape means exactly this indomitable benevolence and is the word used to record Jesus’ call for us to love even our enemies. In the richness of the Greek language three more types of love are named.

Storgé or familial love is the love between parent and child or other family members for one another. This is really a matter of loyalty, respect, and affection that endures unfailingly year after year.¹³ It may not always be showy. Consider the love between fathers and their sons; it is a deep abiding love, yet it is not necessarily demonstrative.¹⁴

Philia or brotherly love is the warmest and best Greek word for love. It describes real love, real affection. Hot plountes, the present participle, is the word which describes a man’s closest and nearest and truest friends.¹⁵ Some consider this the purest form of love because it involves no manner of compulsion, including sexual attraction. We normally do not get to choose our family, but we do get to choose our friends.

That brings us to eros, the Greek word for the love of a man and a woman. This always involves passion and sexual desire. Nothing is held back. Initially, the word meant nothing more than the passion of human love, but over time eros has become laden with negative overtones, meaning little more than pure animal lust.¹⁶

It is much more. If fact, eros has the power to transform our sexual desires. Eros is a state in which we are driven with a desire to experience the totality of our beloved. We are totally enthralled with everything about our beloved. This we call “being in love.”

By themselves, our sexual desires are mainly concerned with the sensual pleasure which we may receive. The other person is merely a means to that end. But eros, being preoccupied with the totality of the beloved, obliterates the distinction between giving and receiving.¹⁷

It is a kind of “mountain top experience” akin to that of the apostles who, witnessing the transfiguration of Jesus on the mountain top, said, “Lord, it is good that we are here.” But all mountain top experiences end. Such experiences are short-lived and must yield to the mundane.

Italian researchers believe they have identified the nerve growth factor associated with eros and confirm that it returns to normal levels in our systems within a year or two.¹⁸ It may be best that it does not endure. Eros gives us a foretaste of the love of God, in that sense of one’s total commitment to the beloved. But, eros makes promises it cannot keep. It cannot guarantee happiness. It may even draw together persons least likely to enjoy a happy marriage together.

We have to come down from the mountain top and willfully apply ourselves to the cultivation of a truer and more mature love. A love that can sustain itself, that can weather the ups and downs of life. This growth in God’s agape love must be carried out with humility, charity and divine grace.

Marital sexual relations

Human sexual expression, as intended by God, is beautiful. God the Father called it good that man and woman should unite to form one body. Christ ratified this marital union by performing his first public miracle at the wedding feast at Canaan.

God intended that man and woman, protected by an oath to one another to honor, respect and always remain faithful, should explore the mystery of their sexuality in their marriage bed. We read in the Song of Songs a little of that discovery:

Ah, you are beautiful, my beloved, ah, you are beautiful!

Your eyes are doves behind your veil.

Your hair is like a flock of goats streaming down the mountains of Gilead.

Your teeth are like a flock of ewes to be shorn, which come up from the washing,

All of them big with twins, none of them thin and barren.

Your lips are like a scarlet strand: your mouth is lovely.

Your cheek is like a half-pomegranate behind your veil.

Your neck is like David’s tower girt with battlements;

A thousand bucklers hang upon it, all the shields of valiant men.

Your breasts, are like twin fawns, the young of a gazelle that browse among the lilies.

Until the day breathes cool and the shadows lengthen,

I will go to the mountain of myrrh, to the hill of incense.

You are all-beautiful, my beloved, and there is no blemish in you.

Song of Songs 4:1-6

It is a terrible shame that so many people squander this experience while on a date when they allow the flames of passion to burn out of control. The profound richness of this delight of mutual discovery is intended to act as a glue to bind the newly married couple together. Truly, the sacrament of matrimony, which begins with spiritual and mental union, is not consummated until the couple completes the sacrament by their physical union.

An extremely important purpose of marriage is mutual love and support. But,

the primary purpose of marriage is “to procreate” and raise children –

that is, to cooperate with God in the creation and rearing of new human

beings.¹⁹

Is it any surprise then that a couple united in Holy Matrimony and open to receiving children receive grace when they unite in the sexual act? Grace to be good and holy spouses, grace to be good parents, grace to be good children of their heavenly father.

If this expression of our sexuality is in this way a sacramental, is it not correct to say that pre-marital and extra-marital sex are sacrilegious? Lucifer, of course, in his hatred of humanity seeks to destroy this creative love that would enlarge the very family of God of which Lucifer can never be a part.

Pornography draws many from true intimacy into a fantasy world that mocks matrimony. Invariably in hardcore pornography the man is shown ejaculating, avoiding the slightest possibility that he would further God’s creation. Pornography celebrates animal lust and little else.

Homosexuality is another perversion of matrimony. I've heard it's supporters quote Plato, praising brotherly love as the purest form of love but they conveniently leave out that portion of the quotation that explains that this is so because it involves no manner of compulsion, such as sexual attraction. Truly, homosexual activity cannot be defended without lies.

Two more widespread “doctrines of demons” are abortion and contraception. Well-meaning people encourage and promote these practices, but truly, both are methods of confounding God’s creation. Take for example…

a public talk … by Dr. Richard L. Day, a former National Medical Director of Planned Parenthood – World Population…

"Sex must be separated from reproduction … The strategy then will be not to diminish sexual activity but to increase sexual activity, but in such a way that people won’t be having babies… Sex education is to get kids interested early making the connection between sex and the need for contraception, even before they become very active. The introduction of the connection

between sex and contraception, reinforced in the schools, would carry over into marriage."

"Abortion will be accepted as normal. If school sex education programs lead to more

pregnancies in children, this would be no problem. Parents who think they are opposed to abortion on moral grounds will change their minds when it is their own child. So this will help overcome opposition to abortion."²⁰

I’m sure Dr. Day and his sort mean well, but they have become Lucifer’s tools in his hateful war on humanity.

Called to Love

We are all called to imitate Christ; called to imitate God and his creative, sacrificial, unconditional love, to follow Jesus’ command to love our enemies. Can we do that?

Do you remember God’s innermost secret that he has revealed to us?

God himself is an eternal exchange of love, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, and

has destined us to share in that exchange.²¹

His love for us won’t allow him to abandon us. When our first parents broke their fellowship with God he promised them that he would send a savior.

In time, the Father sent his Son, Jesus, to suffer and die to restore our relationship with his Father. When it was time for the Son to ascend to heaven he promised that he and his Father would send us a helper, a comforter, the Paraclete to assist us in our growth toward the Father and the Son. They sent the Holy Spirit, on the feast of Pentecost, who descended on the apostles and all of the disciples assembled in the Upper Room. They send that same Holy Spirit to each of us, to teach, to guide, to strengthen and encourage us. He comes to us and teaches us to love; creatively, sacrificially, unconditionally, as adopted children of God; part of his circle of love, the eternal family of God.

LITERATURE CITED

¹ Catechism of the Catholic Church. 1994. 221. Libreria Editrice Vaticana, Città del Vaticano.

² F. J. Shead. Theology for Beginners. 1958. Servant Books. Ann Arbor, Michigan. P. 33.

³ Ibid. P. 35.

⁴ Ibid.

⁵ Catechism of the Catholic Church. 1994. 221. Libreria Editrice Vaticana, Città del Vaticano.

⁶ Catechism of the Catholic Church. 1994. 293. Libreria Editrice Vaticana, Città del Vaticano.

⁷ Catechism of the Catholic Church. 1994. 295. Libreria Editrice Vaticana, Città del Vaticano.

⁸ St. Catherine of Sienna. Dialogue 3,14 “On Divine Providence”

⁹ Catechism of the Catholic Church. 1994. 356. Libreria Editrice Vaticana, Città del Vaticano.

¹⁰ Fr. Paul Wickens. Husband & Wife. 1992. P. 26. Tan Books and Publishers, Inc. Rockford, Ill.

¹¹ Ibid.

¹² William Barclay. The Gospel of Matthew. Vol. 1. 1956. P. 174. Westminster Press. Philadelphia, Penn.

¹³ William Barclay. The Gospel of Matthew. Vol. 1. 1956. P. 173. Westminster Press. Philadelphia, Penn.

¹⁴ Fr. Paul Wickens. Husband & Wife. 1992. P. 50. Tan Books and Publishers, Inc. Rockford, Ill.

¹⁵ William Barclay. The Gospel of Matthew. Vol. 1. 1956. P. 173. Westminster Press. Philadelphia, Penn.

¹⁶ Ibid.

¹⁷ C.S. Lewis. The Four Loves. 1960. HarcourtBrace & Company. San Diego, CA. Pgs. 93-115.

¹⁸ Enzo Emanuele, etal., Raised plasma nerve growth factor levels associated with early-stage romantic love,

Psychoneuroendocrinology, Epublished Nov. 10, 2005.

¹⁹ Fr. Paul Wickens. Husband & Wife. 1992. P. 24. Tan Books and Publishers, Inc. Rockford, Ill.

²⁰ The Eternal Call

²¹ Catechism of the Catholic Church. 1994. 221. Libreria Editrice Vaticana, Città del Vaticano.

Available on-line at: http://www-personal.ksu.edu/~sworm/welcome.htm