“Someone exists who holds in His hands the destiny of the passing world … and this Someone is Love … Eucharistic Love.” Pope St. John Paul II wrote those words as he encouraged us to “be not afraid” in Crossing the Threshold of Hope (1994).
Fear can reach us, but the word of God reminds us “perfect love drives out fear.” (1 John 4:18)
The perfect love of God is given to us in the Holy Eucharist. Receiving Jesus and offering a gift of self in return is our life’s purpose. Eucharistic love is our vocation.
How do we let ourselves be loved by God? We should pause at that question. If the purpose of life is to receive the love of God in our hearts and give it to others, then we need to have good answers to that question.
We receive the love of God by accepting where He offers it, especially in the sacraments and the liturgy of the Church. While God’s grace can reach us in whatever way and wherever He wills, God chooses to encounter us in an extraordinary and direct way in the Holy Eucharist.
God willed to express His love by coming to earth to dwell with us and remain with us in the Holy Eucharist. He decided to become a baby, to die in the best years of his life and to enter the realm of sin and hell to bring our human nature (and us) through death into eternal life. We relive this plan of God for our salvation most closely through the liturgy.
God comes into physical and spiritual contact with us. By God’s grace, He dwells in us. We can be guided by His Holy Spirit and as He speaks to us through the Holy Scriptures. We have nothing to fear with the Lord in our midst.
Christ, the High Priest, established a holy priesthood so we can hear Jesus speak to us through the words “I absolve you” and “I baptize you.” We offer our return to the Lord in the liturgy, declaring, “I confess” and “I believe.” Ours is a personal love in response to the Lord, and yet we approach God together, as a human family, in the communion of the Church.
At Mass, we profess belief and take a stand, accepting the duties and implications of our faith. Our presence and responses are intended to reflect a deep commitment to love and honor God all the days of our life. This is seen, for example, when we renew our baptismal promises at the Easter Vigil and at confirmation.
We are asked to turn away from sin and toward freedom. The priest asks: “Do you renounce Satan? And all his works? And all his empty show?”
In another form, the priest asks: “Do you renounce sin, so as to live in the freedom of the children of God? Do you renounce the lure of evil, so that sin may have no mastery over you? Do you renounce Satan, the author and prince of sin?”
As individuals, we make our promise back to God, saying, “I do.” We renounce all that gets in the way of receiving the love of God. This is the first step in letting ourselves be loved by God. By His grace, we act to clear the path and make room for Him.
The second part of the renewal of our baptismal promises sets the stage for a profession of loving belief, in which we are prompted to express our “yes” back to God. We are asked to affirm our belief in each Person of the Holy Trinity, the Holy Church and God’s plan for our salvation. We respond with, “I do,” giving a declaration of love to God.
A lifelong fidelity to the Lord begins one day at a time, every day. We daily seek mercy, ask forgiveness and rise again after each fall. God knows what each step toward Him takes in our efforts to overcome weakness and sin. When we cannot step, He remains faithfully at our side.
As disciples of Christ, let us believe in His friendship. He calls us friends. (John 15:15) Let us grow comfortable in His Presence as friends do, speaking to Him from the heart.
“His love endures forever.” (Psalm136)
How do we let ourselves be loved by God? We let God love us by renouncing sin, accepting grace to live virtuously and being in the presence of His Eucharistic love in adoration.
Come, let us worship.
Sister John Paul Maher, OP, is the principal of Worthington St. Michael School and a member of the Dominican Sisters of Mary, Mother of the Eucharist.