Rev. Fr. David Okolie
Dearest friends,
During one of my Apostolic works as a Seminarian, I met an elderly man who happened to have served Archbishop Stephen Ezeanya of blessed memory. He told me that this Bishop taught him, among other things, that: โYou have time for who you LOVE’.
Over the years, I have pondered over the above saying and have discovered that it is very TRUE. This explains why Jesus summarized the entire Commandments with LOVE (cf. CCC nn. 2083, 2196, Mk 12:29-31). Here, we recall a beautiful saying of St. Augustine thus: โLOVE GOD and do whatever you like’. The above may be easily misunderstood. But the truth is that If you genuinely LOVE God, you would hardly DISOBEY Him. Have you seen why Jesus insisted that Peter should confess his LOVE for him, even up to THREE times?: โSimon, son of John, do you LOVE ME more than these others?… Feed my sheep…” (cf. Jn 21:15-17).
The fact is that without a SINCERE LOVE of God in our hearts, we cannot really live VIRTUOUS LIFE. Indeed, a Sincere Love of God is the FOUNDATION of all VIRTUES. This means that no matter how one claims to be a Minister or Church Member, without the LOVE of Godย in him/her, the person is truly FAR away from God and cannot be at peace with other persons; because love of God should include love of neighbour too.
Now, this LOVE we owe to God is all about JUSTICE towards God and this has to do with the firm will to give God his due (Remember that he loved us first: cf. Jn 3:16, 15:13). This justice towards God is called โVIRTUE OF RELIGION” (cf CCC no. 1807). We must be careful lest we โsin against this LOVE of God through indifference, ingratitude, lukewarmness, acedia or spiritual sloth and hatred of God’ (cf. CCC, no. 2094).
We pray the Blessed Virgin Mary to always support us with her powerful intercession. Amen๐๐ผ
Remain blessed!
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