Why is it that we human beings cannot truly accept that God really loves us with a never-ending, unconditional love?

Sure, we can mouth the words – “I know God loves me” – yet, in the shadows of our minds there is doubt and, truth be known, non-acceptance that it IS true.

We come up with reasons – excuses really – which affirms those doubts. “How can God possibly love me? I don’t deserve that love. I’m a sinner. I keep on sinning. I am not worthy.”

Now, that is truth – we are not worthy. We repeat it every time at Mass: “Lord, I am not worthy … only say the word and my soul shall be healed.”

Guess what? Jesus DOES say the word. We are not worthy, yet Jesus made us worthy. Our sins are forgiven. We are saved, washed clean in the Blood of the Lamb of God. Jesus showed his love for us – God’s love for us – by carrying the weight of all our sins, past, present, future, as he hung on the cross. “A man can have no greater love than to lay down his life for his friends. You are my friends….” [John 15:13-14].

By ourselves we cannot atone for our sins, yet Jesus did that for us. Not only are our sins forgiven, they are forgotten by a loving Father: “For I will forgive their evildoing and remember their sins no more” [Hebrews 8:12]. “It is I, I, who wipe out, for my own sake, your offenses; your sins I remember no more” [Isaiah 43:25].

If there was only one message I had to convey in all my spiritual writings and broadcasting, it is this: GOD LOVES YOU.

It is a message that bears repeating over and over, until it really sinks in, and you fully accept it. GOD LOVES YOU.

Listen and hear – really hear – these words of love from God as God speaks directly to you: “I have called you from all eternity and you are engraved from all eternity in the palms of my hands. You are mine. You belong to me, and I love you with an everlasting love” [You Belong to God – Henri J.M. Nouwen].

The passionate Apostle St Paul offers these beautiful words: ‘You are God’s love letters, written not with ink, but with the love called the Holy Spirit, written not on stone, but on the pages of your human heart.’ [2 Corinthians 3:3]

English Dominican priest and theologian Herbert McCabe wrote, ‘God is helplessly and hopelessly in love with us. He does not care whether we are sinners or not… We cannot ever change God’s mind about us. He is simply in love with us always. What God does again and again is change our minds about him. That is what our forgiveness is. We are not forgiven because we confess our sins. We confess our sins because we are already and always forgiven. And we gather to celebrate that freedom’ [Faith within Reason].

God loves you. God is crazy about you. So much so that God made you in God’s own image. “God is love, and whoever remains in love remains in God and God in him… … as he is, so are we in this world”. [1 John 4: 16-17]

You were created as a special purpose of his love. God wanted to make you to express his love. God made you so he could love you. BELIEVE it!

If we needed more proof of the truth of God’s love for us, hear this: “For this is how God loved the world: he gave his only Son ...” [John 3:16]. Jesus came to earth to serve, to show God’s true love to all people. He did not spare himself in his care for others, revealing loving compassion and proving the extent of his love when he laid down his life, for us. An instrument of death – the Cross – is the greatest possible symbol of true love. Jesus gave ALL for us!

To fall in love with the world is to fall in love with God. God is in everything, in everyone. With creation as a love story the world can be seen as a good, sacred place. This sacred Earth is the womb from which the whole Earth was born. It is divine love itself incarnate, the very heart of God in time and space.

There is an image emblazoned in my mind and heart. Like the father in the story of the prodigal Son, God the Father runs towards us to greet us, arms outstretched to welcome us into loving, open arms – and then comes the bear hug, a loving, strong embrace that fills your entire being with feelings of safety, security, trust, peace and love. “Welcome home, beloved!”

Have a golden day and treasure life!