Funny book title

God Loves You and there's nothing you can do about it

This book is from David Mangan, one of the original retreatants on the Duquesne weekend which is considered to have begun the charismatic renewal of the Catholic church. It apparently focuses on how to allow the Holy Spirit to be more active in our lives so that we can be transformed from "weak but sincere Catholics" to believers empowered by what Mangan refers to as "spiritual dynamite."  Sounds like good stuff.

But the title is really resonating with me right now. This short reflection is not based on Mangan's book, beyond the title.

God's love for each one of us is infinitely greater than we can fathom, and there is absolutely nothing we can do to reduce it by the smallest amount. Even if we completely lose hope in God's love, even if we reject him completely, God still loves us beyond the greatest conception of the depths of love that our limited minds can conceive. God's love for each of us individually is greater than any amount of doubt we might have and any depth of despair by which we may feel overwhelmed. We may not always feel connected to that love; we may feel very far removed from it, and we may through circumstance or choice lose contact with it, but God never does. And there are a few things we should remember:

• He knows us better than we know ourselves.
• He knows our need better than we ourselves know it.
• He wants better for us than we want for ourselves.
• His plan for our lives is greater than our own.
• He doesn't merely love us collectively because there happen to be billions of us. He loves and cares for each of us.
• He doesn't love any one of us any more or any less than any other of us.
• God can never be too busy for our need.

But:

• His perspective on our lives goes beyond our own perspective, both within and beyond our earthly life.

Too often my prayer is rooted in begging God to work the circumstances of my life - or the lives of those I love - in the way I think is best for me or for them. But my prayer is more aligned with God's plan for my life when I focus more on asking God to do whatever it takes to make me the person he dreams for me to become. When I have this focus - and I don't have it often enough - I'm more likely to receive the circumstances of life in a peaceful way that allows the light of God's love to shine through me.

That isn't to say that God is only concerned with my transformation. Rather, God is concerned with every aspect and circumstance of my life in the context of my transformation and that of those around me, that we might spend eternity in the joy of his kingdom. The dark times we experience along the way, in which God's love may not seem very tangible or real, appear to be a normal part of the Christian journey. I believe that the greatest obstacle to getting through them is to become too focused on the circumstances around us that may have led us into the dark place. When my attention becomes fixed on getting out of these situations, as the chief thing for which I'm looking to God becomes deliverance from my straits rather than simply a deeper fellowship with him, as I desire more what I want God to do rather than communion with God himself, the light of his love can seem very far from me. Indeed, I can begin to conclude that there are conditions that God will have to meet before I can ever truly enter into his presence and his joy.

God's desire for me - indeed, for each of us - is to meet us where we are each day, that we might walk with him. This is but a foretaste of the joy we will know in his kingdom for all eternity, but life without that foretaste is bland indeed, or worse. Still, no amount of anxiety, pain or suffering we may experience will begin to approach the joy that is ours for all eternity, and God does not desire for us to wait until we die to begin know the joy that becomes ours when we become his beloved sons and daughters.

God, help me - and those I love - to know we are in your presence this day, in the midst of whatever challenges may be ours.