Can you feel the love

The God of the Old Testament is a mighty God,  the One who saved His chosen people from the powerful Pharaoh and led them through a hostile territory to the promised land. He went to war to save Israelites from enemies and abundantly blessed them with everything they needed. For the Jewish people, a Savior meant someone braver than David, someone who would lead them on a military expedition against their oppressors, a mighty king who would establish a kingdom that stretches from one end of the world to the other. Jesus, for obvious reasons, didn't fit the profile of that savior. They refused to believe Him even after the Resurrection, they wanted a savior who would conform into their expectations. 

Since its creation, humans misunderstood God's  feelings towards us and misinterpreted his promises; we have always looked at our relationship to God as an obligatory one, like the one involving a king and his subjects, like a master and his servants. God created humans in His own image with a free will. If given an opportunity to create, no king or master will create subjects or servants who are free to think, free to choose, let alone in their own likeness. God's love is the reason behind our creation, and that is the reason for creating us with a will to choose - to be with Him or not to be. Love is the reason He chose Abraham to father a great nation and love is the reason He fought wars on their behalf. The same love that made leather garments for Adam and Eve after the first sin (Exodus 3:21), provided the food and shelter for the Israelites even when they were disobedient and dishonest. But they failed to see the love behind God's actions, they took God as a privilege, concentrated only on His mighty deeds, used God to make themselves feel special. They made everybody's life miserable by misinterpreting the Commandments, by giving too much attention to the law and no attention to the love behind those commandments.

God's love, "...is patient, love is kind. It is not jealous, is not pompous, it is not inflated, it is not rude, it does not seek its own interests, it is not quick-tempered, it does not brood over injury, it does not rejoice over wrongdoing but rejoices with the truth. It bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things" (1 Corinthians 13:4-7). Jesus is the personification of God's love, a love that yearn to be with us all the time. It is this love that compelled Him to be born in a manger and not in a castle, it is this love that made Him relieve people of their afflictions regardless of its causes, it is this love that "he empties himself, taking the form of a slave..., he humbled himself, becoming obedient to death, even death on a cross" (Philippians 2:7,8). It is this love that we have no time for; we want things from God, not as fruits of His love, but as a right for being one of His subjects. Jesus summarized  hundreds of thousands of Jewish laws into two commandments - love God above all things, and love your neighbor as yourself (Matthew 22:37-39). As images of God, He expects us to love like He does. 

Is my love patient?

Is my love kind?

Is my love not jealous?

Is my love self-centered?

Is my love exaggerated?

Is my love rude?

Is my love purpose oriented?

Is my love comforting?

Is my love hurtful?

Is my love makes me turn a blind eye to wrongdoings?

Does my love allow me to bear all things?

Does my love allow me to be a believer?

Does my love allow me to be hopeful?

Does my love allow me to be enduring?

When we have faith in God, we are trusting in His love. God's graces and mercy are all outbursts of His love. Can we see God's love when we look at Jesus, can we hear His love in the Scriptures, can we experience His love in the Eucharist, can we feel His love in us, among us, all around us?

"No one has ever seen God. Yet, if we love one another, God remains in us, and his love is brought to perfection in us." (1 John 4:12)