Begging to Fall in Love

Tonight at the Solemnity of Saint Joseph, after babysitting our two-year-old granddaughter, we saw in church a couple cuddling their two young boys at the end of our pew.

It is not hard to love -- for parents and grandparents. For parents: their children. For grandparents: their grandchildren. Love comes as second nature to them. They know they have it. They feel it. For God has put it in their hearts.

Even from the womb, mothers and fathers already love their babies. And when they see their newly-born for the first time, you can see their inconceivable joy! But their love goes beyond that. They are willing to make sacrifices to give their offspring the best to prepare them for life.

Too, grandparents just love their grandchildren. Sometimes even more than they do their own children. They even tend to spoil them.

No wonder God included parents in His Ten Commandments as deserving of honor and love. I think it is because the love of parents (and grandparents) is a reflection, though to a faint degree but still great and real, of the immense love of God for His children -- us.

God's love for us is faithful, steadfast, everlasting (Jer. 31:3). "God shows his love for us in that while we were yet sinners Christ died for us. (Romans 5:8) Again, “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.” (John 3:16)

God is Love. (1 John 4:7)

Scriptures also say that God wants us to love Him in return. In the Old Testament: “And now, Israel, what does the Lord your God require of you, but to fear the Lord your God, to walk in all his ways, to love him, to serve the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul, (Deuteronomy 10:13) In the New Testament: "You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. (Mt. 22:37)

It should not be hard to fall in love with God. In fact, it is hard not to fall hard in love with Him.

There is a beautiful song that expresses the desire ("beg" is the word he uses) of one who is already in love with the Lord to fall in love with Him even more. It is not possible for one to listen to the words and music of Fr. Arnel Aquino, SJ, sung with feeling by Veepee Pinpin and not feel the same longing to be more in love with the Lord.

I, for one, would like to be a beggar too, begging to fall in love, madly in love, with my Lord. I believe everyone would, as well.