The WORD in LENT - Fourth week, Wednesday
March 22, 2023: Isaiah 49: 8-15; John 5: 17-30
Does God love all in the same manner? Ofcourse, God is never partial but what would love mean if it is the same with everyone, everywhere! Love is always specific. If love is wishing the good of the other, how would I wish the good of someone, without knowing the specific good that person is in need of. Evey form of love has to be specific. And just so, above all, God's love is specific - says the Word today; we would do well to realise that, to feel peace and serenity within.
God's love comes to respond to the need of each one proper to the void he or she experiences in life. A mother's expression of love to a hungry child is feeding it; her reaching out to a frightened child is to caress it reassuringly! God's love is such, declares the Word today: even if that mother were to forsake, God would never forsake us! What a peace-filled affirmation it is, however simplistic it may sound!
It takes special effort to respond to each one, proper to his or her need. The needs of each person vary, at times to the extent of one clashing against the other! God alone has the capacity of reconciling all of them and making the right thing happen at the right time - is that not the definition of peace - right thing happening at the right time, in the right order. St. Paul paraphrased this in his letter to the Romans: all things work together for good to them that love God, to those who are called according to God's purpose (cf Rom 8:28).
Acknowledging God's personal love for each of us and imitating God in loving each one in the specific and concrete manner that we need to, is the surest way to lasting peace. Jesus teaches this from his own lifestyle as Son of God who does everything just as God and just as God commands. It is simply participating in God's love, in other words, to love like God - as a way to peace.