Love is All You Need?

Love is all you need. John Lennon’s song may not have been theologically complete, but it was on the right path. Love is PRIMARILY what you need. Why? Because God IS love – it is His very essence, and because you are created in His image and likeness, it is part of your very essence. You are happiest when recognizing that you come from love, and that your purpose in life is to love, sacrificing self-interest and becoming a self-gift. As essential as the theological virtues of faith and hope are, they are both meant to point us to the ultimate, which is love - the Divine nature of God Himself. Listen to Saint Paul’s first letter to the Corinthians, interchanging the words God and Love… Love is patient, love is kind. It is not jealous, [love] is not pompous, it is not inflated, it is not rude, it does not seek its own interests, it is not quick-tempered, it does not brood over injury, it does not rejoice over wrongdoing but rejoices with the truth. It bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never fails….So faith, hope, love remain, these three; but the greatest of these is love. Let’s pray – Father of grace and mercy, you are the author of love. Help us rest in the beating heart of your love, while inspiring within us action to share your love with all we encounter. While love may not be all we need, help us recognize the primacy of your Divine love. Amen. This is Mike Kelly with Pray For 2, offering two minute prayer reflections on the daily readings of the Church. Listen to them anytime at prayfor2.com, or on the Redeemer Radio app.