All of History is a Dramatic Love Story Being Played Out
What a phenomenal gift we have been given!
We have, not only the gift of life, but the gift of God within us at every moment. We move, breathe, think, reason and function because of this great gift, but that wasn’t enough. God, in His infinite goodness, wanted us to be united as one and as part of that He gave us the ability to love with His love. It can only be God’s love that we love with because “God is love” (1John 4:8) and all virtues are bound up in the virtue of love. Because all virtues are bound together by love, each time we love, we grow in the fruit of all virtues and, therefore, grow in the image and likeness of God. Each time we love, it is a reminder that we are united to God. Each time we love we are reminded that we are loved so much that He who is love entered our being to be with us always. Each time we love we are reminded of our covenantal relationship with God.
How do we grow in that covenantal relationship? How do we draw deeply together as one? Not as a married couple do. The covenantal love we have can only be made deeper with prayer.
The fruit of our prayer life is shown in our actions. In understanding that, we can see that all of history, right to the present moment, is the story of God and His union with us. We see the choices we make played out. We see people who ignore the union clashing with those who embrace it and we can see various levels played out on both sides. All of history is a battle of some sort because there is a battle for our soul and what we see here is a mirror of that spiritual reality. God is a jealous God (Deut 4:24) and all of history is Him fighting for us. The fight didn’t end on Calvary. He continually calls us into a deeper love and if that love is threatened, He fights for us so we can keep our eyes on Him and be with Him for all eternity. All of history is a dramatic love story being played out.
We all want to be loved unconditionally. We all want to be first in someone’s life. We search for it failing to realize that what we long for, we already have. We often see God as someone who is there to help us when we decide we need Him, but we fail to work on any relationship with Him. Is that the kind of relationship we would want with others? One that is only called upon when help is needed? One in which we were always filled with hope that we would be received with unconditional love and not just for what we can do for the other? If we wouldn’t want to be in that position, why would we place God in it? The union is there. The love is present. You have a story unfolding before your very eyes and it is waiting to become your greatest love story ever told.
Prayerful Reflections
It can only be God’s love that we love with because “God is love” (1John 4:8) and all virtues are bound up in the virtue of love.
“God is a jealous God” (Deut 4:24) and all of history is Him fighting for us.
“Prayer is bound up with human history, for it is the relationship with God in historical events.” (Catechism 2568).
How might you look at events in history differently if you saw each event as a story of our union with God being played out?