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Knowing and Loving God

Some may wonder how can we possibly know and understand God?  How can we possibly fathom the greatness and awesomeness of God?  I don’t think we can fully understand God’s holiness, His power and His majesty, but we can know God for He reveals Himself to us through the Scriptures and through His Son Jesus Christ.

The Scripture says:  “Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love.  This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him.  This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins.  Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another.” 1 John 4: 8-11

St. Paul says, “I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.”  Galatians 2:20

On a daily basis I have a special time with Jesus at the Time He died for us, 3pm.  At this time I remember His sacrifice.  I see my Crucified Saviour dying on the Cross for me and my heart breaks. I see Him suffering with such valour, with such courage, with such determination and love that He becomes my ALL, my hearts desire.

I no longer see the world as I did years ago, for my eyes are continuously searching for Jesus and His Passion is always on my mind.  I no longer pursue the same activities.  What was once not a priority:  daily prayer and meditation on His Holy Word and on His Passion has now become the most important part of my life.  Receiving Jesus in the Holy Eucharist is also very important to me.

To know God is to know Jesus, Our Crucified Saviour.  His Passion has changed the world and His Passion will continue to change the world until He returns in glory.  How can we reject the Holy One who dies on the Cross for us?  We cannot!  Those that see their Crucified Lord giving up everything for them do not reject Jesus!  There is no eternal life without the saving grace of Jesus Christ.  When we awaken to the greatness of Jesus’ love, His love changes everything!  He is our Saviour, our Healer, our Lord and God.

St. Padre Pio (1887-1968) was known to say, “Never let a day go by without meditating on the Passion of Christ.”

St. Frances de Sales (1567-1622) wrote, “The love which is not the fruit of the Passion is feeble.”

Father Balthassar Alvarez (1533 – 1580) used to say, “We must not suppose that we have made any progress in the way that leads to God until we keep Jesus Crucified in our hearts.”

St. Francis of Assisi (1182-1226) like St. Padre Pio wore the wounds of Our Saviour’s Passion upon his flesh in the form of the stigmata.  He used to weep over the suffering that Jesus endured for our redemption.  People used to ask St. Francis, “why are you crying?”  St. Francis would reply, “I am weeping over the pains and insults of my Divine Master.  But what grieves me most is that men for whom He suffered so much never think of the torments He endured.”

The Spirit of God changed me through daily meditation on the Passion of Christ.  If Jesus can suffer so much to save me, I want to give everything to please Him!

It’s not by accident that you are reading this today.  If you have never before meditated on the Passion of Christ, then take a walk to Calvary and you will know how much God loves you.

God is love and God is mercy and God is Jesus Christ—True God, True Man.  The Deity did not want man to suffer to pay the price of divine justice, so Jesus become man to pay the price for us.  “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.” John 3:16

Let’s make every day Remembrance Day!  Let’s not let a single day go by without remembering how much Jesus suffered to prepare a place for us in Heaven.  Remember Jesus every day at 3pm*; it’s the time He died for you.  Let us see Him dying on the Cross with such endless love and, then and only then, can we begin to know the love of God.

*If 3pm locally is not a good time for you, then pick 3pm in another time zone and let that be the Time Jesus died for you.  Remember Him and let His infinite love for you open your heart and change your life!  At this holy time, pray for all souls, that all souls may come to know and love their Saviour, Jesus Christ.

“There is no greater love than to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.” John 15:13