how to receive love
"He it was who told us of your love in the Spirit." —Colossians 1:8
The Colossians received love in the Spirit. We also must receive God's love, for "the man without love has known nothing of God, for God is Love" (1 Jn 4:8). "If I give everything I have to feed the poor and hand over my body to be burned, but have not love, I gain nothing" (1 Cor 13:3).
We receive God's love by God's grace. We can't "make love." Love is a gift and the fruit of the Spirit (Gal 5:22). We can't produce love; we can only receive love and share the love we've received. "We, for our part, love because He first loved us" (1 Jn 4:19).
The Lord in His mercy is always giving us love. We must freely and repeatedly accept it. The grace of love is usually given to us in the circumstances of everyday life. For example, the Lord commands us to forgive anyone who has hurt us. We receive greater love as we decide to give love in forgiveness. The Lord calls us to deny ourselves and make sacrifices for others, even enemies. We decide to obey Him, but we wonder whether we will have the love to carry out our decision. The Lord provides. "By obedience to the truth you have purified yourselves for a genuine love" (1 Pt 1:22).
Thank the Lord for the grace, gift, and miracle of love. Choose to accept this love. "Thus you will be able to grasp fully, with all the holy ones, the breadth and length and height and depth of Christ's love, and experience this love which surpasses all knowledge, so that you may attain to the fullness of God Himself" (Eph 3:18-19).
Prayer: Jesus, I will live in Your crucified love (see Jn 15:9). May my love grow warm even when the love of most people grows cold (Mt 24:12).
Promise: "Simon's mother-in-law was in the grip of a severe fever, and they interceded with Him for her. He stood over her and addressed Himself to the fever, and it left her." —Lk 4:38-39
Praise: Pope Gregory was inspired by the Holy Spirit to begin the devotion to the Stations of the Cross.
Nihil Obstat: Reverend Robert L. Hagedorn, February 1, 1997
Imprimatur: †Most Reverend Carl K. Moeddel, Vicar General and Auxiliary Bishop of the Archdiocese of Cincinnati, February 4, 1997