This week I had the great privilege and joy to speak with my
Grandparents. It is always so wonderful to connect and to give updates to each
other. I am so very blessed to have these amazing people and gifts a part of my
life and journey.
My Grandfather is
always asking good questions and sometimes asks really interesting questions.
So as I was finishing up my conversation with Grandma I could hear him say, ‘I
have a question for him.’ So Grandma bid me good night and again turned the phone
over to Grandpa. He said ‘I have a question for you and you don’t need to
answer it tonight but maybe the next time we talk you can answer it for me!’ I
said, ‘okay!’ and was wondering what it would be about… The habit I wear? Will
I ever go out as a missionary? Is there enough money to pay for my bills? But I
was way off the mark, the question he asked me was…
What did God do
before God created the earth and people?
Umm… okay… well no
wonder he said I can answer that the next time we talk. However as that night
progressed and the rest of the week unfolded, an answer seemed to settle within
me. I’m sure there is some deep theological answer to give, I’m sure some great
academic theologian can give a deep, philosophical answer to this, but I am
neither of those two things. I am simple man, a simply professed friar and on
an amazing journey with Jesus.
Over the past few weeks I have been told I write with my heart
and I act from the heart first. Which means I do not always write technical or
think out other possibility for actions. I do however know that the answer to
my Grandpa’s question comes from the heart, especially a heart that desires
God more and more.
The answer to the question ‘What did God do before God created the earth and people?’ is actually quite simple...
God Loved!
As simple as an answer that love is, it is more than just a
small four letter word we toss around today like can for recycling.
God Loved!
First and foremost
God loved. God loved in the mystery of the Trinity – Father, Son & Holy
Spirit. God Loved the Son. The Son loved God. God loved the Spirit. The Spirit
loved God. The Son loved the Spirit. The Spirit loved the Son. Love caught up
in love. How awesome that is!
A perfect and beautiful and strong bond of love. This powerful
bond of love is what produced the love that God poured into creation, into us,
into the gift of his Son and the gift of the Spirit we receive.
God Loved!
God loved like a
pregnant woman loves her child before the child is born. From the first
stirrings of that life within her the woman loves.
I think of my own sister, and sister-in-laws when they were
pregnant with their children. They loved the unknown child. They provided a
place for that child to grow. They protected that child that growing within
from harm. They looked ahead with love. Then when the child was born that loved
overflowed. As a mother they continue to love, the love did not stop because
the child was born. No that love has deepened and has pushed them to new limits
and new ways of defining love and sharing love. The gift of love that my
nephews and nieces are growing in is one that will hopefully sustain them for
the journey of life, but also one that will continue to allow them to crave for
and experience the love of God. In their hurts, in their joys, in their
learning, in their mistakes, in their blessings, in their gift of free-will the
love they have encountered from their conception is an encounter of God’s
creating love.
God Loved!
Even before a
breath was breathed into creation and even before humanity breathed our first
breath God loved us so much that God knew the gift of sending his Son to dwell
among us, to walk with us, to die for us, to redeem us and to call us to the
fullness of life. This love would need to be from before the creation of the
world, for this love is what would help form the world and the gifts God wanted
to bestow on all the children of the world. This love is the Spirit of God
breathing forth into the creation when God created the earth and humanity and
is the same Spirit that breaths through us and in the world today. How do we
choose to accept this love? Or do we? I hope so, it is the best free gift we
can ever receive!
God Loved! God continues to Love! God’s Love never ends!
"Beloved, let us
love one another, because love is from God; everyone who loves is born of God
and knows God. Whoever does not love does not know God, for God is love. God’s
love was revealed among us in this way: God sent his only Son into the world so
that we might live through him. In this is love, not that we loved God but
that he loved us and sent his Son to be the atoning sacrifice for our sins. Beloved,
since God loved us so much, we also ought to love one another. No one has
ever seen God; if we love one another, God lives in us, and his love is
perfected in us." - 1 John 4. 7-12
So Grandpa...good question! My mind and heart were kept extra busy these past few days (probably a good thing)!
And Grandpa to simply answer your question, it is Love. How beautiful and awesome is that? It is more
than my simple words can try to explain, it is more than what my heart can
hold, it is more than the love I have experienced from you and so many others, and
it is more than the love that will fill my life time. The best part of this
love is that God’s love will enfold us when our last day on earth is done and
we are with God in heaven. What more could we want then to begin with love even
before our first breath and to go into unending love? I can’t think of anything
more!
God is Love! God Loved! God Loves!
