God's Unconditional Love Comes First

Sometimes, we slip into the mindset that Catholicism is just a strict recipe: a bunch of rules we must execute perfectly to get God to love us. Many of us still imagine that God operates transactionally. But God's love doesn't react to our behavior — it precedes our very existence. He does not love us only when we finally clean up our lives; we are only capable of changing our lives because He loved us first. Let's obey God's laws not out of a fearful desire to earn His love, but out of a joyful, overflowing gratitude because we are already loved.   Readings at this Mass: Ex 19:2–6a | Rom 5:6–11 | Mt 9:36—10:8