Written by Mark Brown, a contemporary monk and retreat leader.
So how can we come to know the love of God in our lives and in the lives of those around us? I start with the understanding that God is Himself love. God is love. And in a sense all love is God’s love and all love has its source, its ultimate source, in the heart of God. Like that very old hymn reminds us, “Wherever love is, God himself is there.” So we see God’s love all around us in the lives of those that we know, in their compassion, in their generosity, in their giving, in their acts of love and kindness, the way that they care for other people. It is all God’s love even though it is coming through those individuals. Even more immediately, we can come to know God’s love within ourselves because we too, like the people we admire and appreciate, we, too, are instruments of God’s love. We are Christ’s hands in the world, as it were. So God’s love is something that’s alive and present and active in and through us and so recognizing that in our giving, in our generosity, in our compassion, in our loving kindness and care for others, that that’s God living and active and working through us and through our lives.
Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God, and whoever loves has been born of God and knows God. [1 John 4:7]
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