love's ground-breaking
"Please let me, your servant, have two mule-loads of earth, for I will no longer offer holocaust or sacrifice to any other god except to the Lord." —2 Kings 5:17
When Naaman, the healed Syrian general and leper, took two mule-loads of Jewish dirt back home with him, he was literally breaking new ground in his relationship with the Lord. We too must guard against "getting in a rut" in our love for the Lord. We must always be seeking to grow more deeply in love with Him, or we put ourselves in danger of falling away from loving Him with all our hearts and becoming lukewarm (see Rv 3:16). Hosea prophesied: "Break up for yourselves a new field, for it is time to seek the Lord, till He come and rain down justice upon you" (Hos 10:12).
"Our God is a consuming Fire" (Heb 12:29), and we who are in love with Him want to be consumed by Him more and more. The Lord commands us: "Grow rather in grace, and in the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ" (2 Pt 3:18). The Lord has taught us to pray to "experience this love which surpasses all knowledge" so that we "may attain to the fullness of God" (Eph 3:19).
The nature of love is always to seek a deeper love. May we pray: "O God, You are my God Whom I seek; for You my flesh pines and my soul thirsts" (Ps 63:2), and "Your kindness is a greater good than life" (Ps 63:4). By His grace, enter a new dimension of the mystery of God, Who is Love.
Prayer: Father, I surrender myself to You and worship You, Who are Love (1 Jn 4:8).
Promise: "One of them, realizing that he had been cured, came back praising God in a loud voice. He threw himself on his face at the feet of Jesus and spoke His praises." —Lk 17:15-16
Praise: Praise our risen Lord, Love, and God! Alleluia!
Nihil Obstat: Reverend Robert L. Hagedorn, March 30, 2004
Imprimatur: †Most Reverend Carl K. Moeddel, Vicar General and Auxiliary Bishop of the Archdiocese of Cincinnati, April 1, 2004