MY GOD I LOVE YOU MORE THAN ANYTHING IN THE WORLD

Since March, we have prayed at every mass the Spiritual Communion Prayer. Each time I say, “I love you more than anything in the world” it catches me. I meet with three other men each Wednesday, we share prayer and our life experience each week. I mentioned this a few weeks ago in my sharing, and the others chimed in likewise. Last Sunday in the homily I talked about my ‘weeds’ sin as I experience it in my life, like weeds flourishing in the garden. It is the ‘more than anything in the world’ that hangs me up. I love God and I desire to love God more and more each day. I try, as best I can to show it, live it and correct my failures to live that love in my interaction with others. Still, there are weeds that have sunk roots that defy, at least seemingly, my ridding them from the garden.

Our gospel today proposes more parables of the kingdom. A man finds a great treasure, hides it in a field, then sells everything, but the field. A merchant finds a priceless pearl, and sells all he has to buy the pearl. Jesus is telling us that ‘the kingdom’ (the presence of God...deeper relationship with God) is there to be found. Pope Francis in a homily put it this way: “God lets himself be found because it is he who first WANTS to meet us, and first tries to meet us. He came to be God with us.”

God wants to meet you, wants to be found by us. That is an encouraging thought. I more often put the responsibility on me. I have to be the one to go to God, like the merchant searching for the pearl, or the man the treasure. I have to be the one to do the ‘loving more than anything else.’

We do bear responsibility, but the Holy Father is right, God is on the search. Jesus in His ministry walked the territory of Israel time and again. Jesus went searching. God is searching for us. Ours is to be looking. Perhaps I live that love of God more than anything else by engaging the search.

Our daily prayer, participating in the Mass, reading and praying the scripture, living it through my day—all pieces of that search for relationship of loving God more than anything else.

I talked with a parishioner earlier today who brought up this same line in the prayer, creating for him a stumbling block. Perhaps you have as you have both listened to and prayed the prayer these last four months. Perfect love will allude we humans every time. God does not look for perfect love. God looks for searching love. God looks for us struggling with the journey of love and relationship.

I find great hope and assurance in the image Pope Francis gives: “God lets himself be found because it is he who first wants to meet us.” God’s desire for our love is perfect, ours for God is less than perfect. Paul in 2 Corinthians speaks of boasting in his weakness. That less than perfect love, and the ways it manifests itself within us, is a weakness for me. God says to Paul in his pleading prayer to be rid of this ‘thorn in the flesh’ ‘my Grace is enough for you.’ God’s Grace is more than enough.

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Have a good week love,

Fr. Peter