Love Freely, Totally, Faithfully and Fruitfully

 

March 5, 2024


Love Freely, Totally, Faithfully and Fruitfully

Hi!  How is each and every one? This post seems to be bringing us back to last month, love month, right? Not really!  It is just reminding us that every day, every month, all through the year is a day, a month, a year to love.  Love is what truly makes life worth living, love is what gives meaning to our existence, and who is that love? No other than the Absolute Love of all, God, Himself. We just started the month of women, International Women’s month.  Allow me to share the following verse Women of Prayer that was shared with me. Do pray for me as well for this day, March 8, happens to also be my birthday. 


Following now is the last but definitely not the least of the step in achieving the transformation we have been working on (From Broken Gods, Hope, Healing, and the Seven Longings of the Human Heart, Gregory K. Popcak, Ph. D. Ch 3).

Love

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Finally, we come to the last virtue in our acronym COAL, love.  To love someone means that we are committed to working for their good.  Loving ourselves means being similarly committed to working for our own good.  St. John Paul the Great’s theology of the body (Chapter 7) teaches that authentic love must be free, total, faithful, and fruitful (2006). The pope is speaking in the context of the love between man and woman, but I think these terms can be applied to a healthy love of self as well.  What would it look like for us to have a free, total, faithful, and fruitful love of self?  Consider the following.

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I will love myself freely.  I commit to working for my good without reservation, without grumbling.  I will not hold back in my efforts to challenge myself to open my heart wide to receive the transformation God wishes to give me and to cooperate to the best of my ability with his grace at all times.

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I will love myself totally.  While there are parts of myself that are hard to like, I will not turn away from them.  I will celebrate the fact that I am fearfully and wonderfully made (Ps 139:14), that I am good (Gn 1:31), and that God has great things in store for me (1 Cr 2:0).  I will fearlessly cooperate with God’s grace and strive for greatness so that every part of me, especially the parts of me I like the least, may be transformed and bear witness to the wonders God can do.

Theology of the Body JP II

I will love myself faithfully.  Even on the days when I want to give up on myself, I will continue to fight the good fight (2 Tim 4:7).  I will reject self-criticism and false guilt and any movement of the spirit that tries to separate me from either the love of God or his ability to fulfill the incredible plans he has for my life (2Cor 10:5).  On the days when I can no longer believe in myself, I will cling to the knowledge that God believes in me.  On the days when I cannot count on my own strength, I will rely on his.  I will not beat myself up for my weakness.  Rather, I will boast in the power of God (1 Cor 1:31) to raise me up from weakness to glory.

Theology of the Body, JP II

I will love myself fruitfully.  I will rejoice in the good things God does in and through me.  I will look for ways to be a blessing to others.  I will share the blessings God has given me, and I will proclaim the good he has done for me (Ps 116:12) that others might be inspired by the wonders God is working in me.

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Given that it is love that truly matters because it is the story line of our own history, origin, identity and mission, I am contemplating in focusing the next post on love and its characteristics according to St. Paul.

See you in the next post, “May tomorrow be a perfect day; may you find love and laughter along the way; may God keep you in his tender care; ‘til He brings us together again.”

Affectionately,                    

Guadalupinky   

 

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