Love sheds light
By Rev. Frank Majka, S.J.
associate
director, University Ministry
 The Scriptures tell us that we are to obey and worship God. They also tell us to love God, which is harder to grasp since we and God are not on the same level. But I think our human experience of love can shed some light on what it means to love God.
When we love people, we’re drawn to them. There is something about them that impresses us, intrigues us and makes us want to be with them. And when we spend time with them, something happens to us. We become more ourselves, more honest and self-revealing, even to sharing not just the things we’re proud of but also our uncertainties, fears and failures.
When it comes to loving God, something similar happens. Whether it’s the beauty of the world, our own life experiences, the Scriptures or our personal prayer (especially our prayer) we’re drawn to God. And if we spend time with God, we come to love Him more and become more joyful, patient and engaged in life. We find we become more our true selves.
We also become more willing to let God know the things we’re ashamed of or uneasy about. When we love God, we let God know us as we really are. That sometimes means letting God know we are angry with Him, which can be challenging since we may fear that our anger will push God away. But we push God away more if we think that we must deny our real feelings in order to love Him. We need to realize that God is big enough to handle our feelings and that anger, honestly expressed, doesn’t destroy love. Anger with God only means we need to talk out some things with Him, and give God the chance to answer us.
Scripture tells us not only to love God but that our love makes a difference to God. We might have come to the conclusion that we should worship and obey God. But God told us that he wants our love above all (Hosea 6:6). The amazing truth is that we are made to be God-lovers, and even if we don’t do it perfectly — and we don’t — loving God is our calling and our destiny.
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