Simple Yet Profound - Holy Week

The simple truths are often the most profound. Too often we take these simple truths and try and compound them, as if in their simplicity they are somehow deficient. The simplest truth of all, and equally the most profound truth, is spoken through Scripture when John tells us that God is love. 

God is love. Take a moment to hear those words as if for the first time. Maybe repeat the phrase to yourself a few times first emphasizing the word God, then emphasizing the word is and, finally, emphasizing the word love. 

Think about this. God, this eternal, omniscient, omnipotent being can be “summed up” as this one “thing,” love. He is love. Since He is love, He must, by definition, by implication, love. He must love because He is love. Since He is love and must love, He must have always had an object of His love, someone to love. This someone would need to be someone who equally always was, is and will be. That would be His Son, Jesus. And this love between Father and Son is so real, so reciprocal, so alive that it always was, is and will be the third person of the Trinity, the Holy Spirit. 

Let’s take this a step further. In a sense, God cannot not love because He is love. Love is not only who He is, it is also what He does. God loves us no matter what. Nothing we do can separate us from the love of God. God even loves those souls in Hell. While they have chosen to not accept and, in fact, reject His love, He never stops loving them. Were God ever to stop loving them (or us) they would cease to exist for it is the very love of God that is the source of all life. 

It is this love which triumphs over evil and conquers death, which forgives sin, which nourishes us in Eucharist. It is this love that endured the pain, suffering and even death on a cross, all for our sake. God is love is beyond simple; it is beyond profound. It is God, Himself.

This week as we focus on the passion, death and resurrection of Jesus, keep in mind this truth, that God is love. Allow each Station of the Cross bring you to a realization of His never ending love for you. From the palms of Sunday, to the communion of Thursday, to the grief of Friday, to the desolation of Saturday, to the glory of Sunday remember that God is love and that God loves you!