Loving God and others
"Beloved, let us love one another, because love is of God; God begets everyone who loves and knows God. Whoever is without love does not know God, for God is love. In this way, the love of God was revealed to us: God sent his only Son into the world so that we might have life through him. This is love: not that we have loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as expiation for our sins." (1 John 4:7-10) In this beautiful and deeply theological exhortation, Saint John presents the very heart of the Christian message: that God is love, and that authentic love among believers flows directly from their participation in God's own life. The command to "love one another" is not a mere ethical injunction, but an expression of the fundamental reality of divine life shared with humanity. John clarifies that love originates in God Himself, and that true love, properly understood, is both the sign and the fruit of divine filiation. To love authentically is to manifes...