The word "lover" seems to have taken on a rather shady meaning these days, probably because of all of the cheap and superficial ways that it is used. But it would be a shame for us to lose the real significance of the word, especially when we try to understand God as being our Divine Lover.
There is such a profound, instinctive need in all of us to be loved, to have a sense of our own worth and dignity. On our journey, there are so many times that we are made to feel unlovable. As children, and as teenagers - and even as adults - we make mistakes. We are immature, we are selfish, we are unreasonable. We are often scolded, blamed or punished. We tend to believe that we are only loveable when we are good and perfect, only when we please others. And we usually carry that sense of guilt and unworthiness to our relationship with God.
But all throughout Sacred Scripture God used extreme means to show Himself to us as a fierce Lover. He took that stance with His people Israel. He forgave them over and over again. He led them out of slavery into the Promised Land and He reassured them constantly of His faithfulness and unchanging love. He did everything He could to prove to them that He wanted them close.
And then He went over the edge. He sent His Son to bring the very Spirit of Divine Love into the very heart of humanity.
When Jesus is asked for one chief commandment, he gives two and unites the second to the first. For Jesus, love of neighbor is intimately bound to love of God. You can’t have one without the other. We can’t love God with all our whole heart, soul and mind without also loving our neighbor. And Jesus isn’t just talking about the up-close neighbor who shares our interests, lifestyle and lives on the same street with us. He reached out to all, but especially to those who found themselves to be unloved and unlovable. For him a “neighbor” included not only dear friends and followers, but also widows and orphans, lepers, the impaired and disabled, tax-collectors and sinners.
We have much to learn in terms of love. We need to take ourselves less seriously and His Love for us more seriously. We need no false sense of unworthiness or humility. No one of us is worthy of the Gift that we have received - and I doubt that God expects or wants us to be overwhelmed by it. He just wants to be loved in return.
And this is the "greatest" commandment that Jesus speaks of in the Scriptures: to love God with one's whole heart, soul and being. To do this, we need to discard anything that will disguise it, hide it or hinder it. We need to trust God so passionately that we allow ourselves to fall into His outstretched arms without fear.
Once we truly experience His love, we too will not be able to contain ourselves - we will necessarily need to give it back - and to share it with others.
If only we were as relentless in love as He.
