The final session of this step is a reflection from their Manual on the three degrees of the love of God. But this reflection wasn't exactly what I thought it was going to be, focusing more on our love for God than on God's love for us as I expected. And the degrees surprised me a bit, too, but I suppose they make sense.
The first degree that they mention is the desire to avoid mortal sin, which destroys our relationship with God. At least they don't refer to this as the fear of mortal sin in which so many of us grew up, but rather the earnest desire to avoid actions which permanently separate us from God. So yes, I suppose this is a degree of loving God.
The second degree is like the first, but in the authors' view it is the desire to avoid also venial sin, or any sin which even interferes with our relationship with God.
The final degree, on which they spend the most time, is the desire to seek God in all things, and includes loving our neighbor as well.
One could have a lot of discussion concerning how close these degrees really are to each other. I don't want to presume that I am truly striving for the final one, especially when I am only beginning to feel as if I have any power to choose the second. But I long to draw nearer to God and to those around me for the sake of knowing and reflecting his love more perfectly.
Here is where this discussion of the degrees of the love of God falls short for me: the third degree in particular is clearly a reflection of and response to God's initiating love for us. The extremes to which he has gone for our sake are nothing compared to the baby steps we are able to take in reply.
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