Chosen by Love It is a profound thing to consider that we’ve been chosen by our God to follow Him. It is an even more profound thing to consider why. In today’s Gospel we hear about Jesus choosing four of His disciples who would eventually form part of His closest group of friends and coworkers (i.e. the 12 Apostles). While we may not be able to answer the question why God chose specifically Andrew, Simon-Peter, James and John (the sons of Zebedee), we can answer the question in a broader and more important sense. It is not really our concern why certain individuals get called by God to do certain things. Our concern is why He chooses anyone at all. Ask yourself why you are reading this bulletin article right now. Why are you a Christian disciple? No matter how many reasons you may give (e.g. “I am a parishioner”; “I want to know when the next parish festival is”; “I have always been Catholic”; “My parents taught me to be so”; “I find Christianity to be the most helpful and true faith”), the answer to the question “Why am I a follower of Christ?” needs a deeper answer. It is simply because God loves you. Because He loves you, He chooses you to be His. He needs absolutely nothing from you. Yet, He wants to give everything to you. I realize this sounds like “elementary” Christianity, something perhaps you’ve heard since you were a little kid. Yet, honestly, how deeply have we received this truth? Better put, how deeply are we continually receiving this truth? Receiving God’s love, the most important thing we can do as human beings, is much harder for us than we like to admit or even are aware of. The more that we discover this Good News of God’s “loving us”, the less we rely on our own set of criteria for what makes us a “successful” human being, someone of worth. The more we discover and live from within God’s love, the freer we are from our sins—we more firmly believe we are forgiven, we have the strength of His grace to sin less, and begin to no longer live with the often unbearable burden of shame. Finally, we find ourselves, quite surprisingly, with the desire and capacity to generously respond to His love for us. We are surprised how far our love for God will take us. How do the saints live such radically loving lives? They continually rediscover God’s love for them to such a degree that their greatest desire is to love God with their whole heart. Throughout this week, I encourage you to ask God to make His love known to you more than ever before. Ask Him to give you the courage to be loved so deeply. Yes, it takes great courage to be loved so deeply! Don’t be surprised if you, like the four Apostles in our Gospel today, “feel” the urge to leave behind certain things in your life so as to follow Jesus more wholeheartedly.
We have come to know and to believe in the love God has for us. God is love, and whoever remains in love remains in God and God in him. (1 JN 4:16)