BECAUSE HE FIRST LOVED US

DAY 332 OF 365 IN 2021

There are many situations where some form of response is warranted, a reaction that acknowledges that one is aware of the requirements of the situation. The hymn ‘oh bread of heaven’ written by Saint Alphonsus Ligouri triggers a challenge whenever I hear it and upon encountering those lyrics again today, that challenge was regnited.

The third stanza of the hymn contains the following words :

“O Bond of Love! that dost unite
The servant to his loving Lord!
Could I dare live, and not requite
Such love,—then death were meet reward:
I cannot live, unless to prove
Some love for such unmeasured love.”

Those final two lines are where the challenge lies, a realisation that some kind of response is needed from us when God’s love registers in our heart. Very often, we don’t place much emphasis on how much we are loved by God, almost as though we take it for granted. Our body language and reactions confirm this. But today, our invitation is “to show some love for such unmeasured love”.

“Some love” because we simply cannot out do God in the ‘loving’ department, He is love itself. However, our reactions and responses to this love ought be a reflection or acknowledgement of the place of this love of His. To the point where our actions scream out ‘we love because He first loved us’.

#sly