{"id":222,"date":"2012-05-10T20:49:16","date_gmt":"2012-05-11T01:49:16","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.deaconlarry.org\/blog\/?p=222"},"modified":"2012-06-21T20:52:39","modified_gmt":"2012-06-22T01:52:39","slug":"on-loving-god-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.deaconlarry.org\/blog\/?p=222","title":{"rendered":"On Loving God"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Thursday of 5th Week of Easter<\/o:o:p><\/span><\/h2>\n

Acts 15: 7-21; John 15: 9-11<\/o:o:p><\/span><\/h3>\n

By Deacon Larry Brockman<\/o:o:p><\/span><\/h3>\n

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\u00a0<\/font><\/o:o:p><\/span><\/p>\n

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\u201cRemain in my Love\u201d.\u00a0 <\/span>That is Jesus\u2019 advice to us.\u00a0 <\/span>And how do we do that- by keeping Jesus\u2019 commandments to us: loving God first, and our neighbor as ourselves.\u00a0 <\/span>After all, that was his primary commandment.\u00a0<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0 <\/span><\/o:o:p><\/font><\/p>\n

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But Jesus also told the Apostles that whatever they bound on earth would be bound in heaven.\u00a0 <\/span>And so Jesus gave the authority to the Church to define right and wrong a little more explicitly. \u00a0\u00a0<\/span>We are bound to listen to what Holy Mother the Church has to say about faith and morals.\u00a0 <\/span>So \u201cremaining in my love\u201d is simple in concept, but yet, difficult in practice.\u00a0 <\/span>Or is it that we make it more difficult than it is?<\/font><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/span><\/o:o:p><\/font><\/p>\n

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When we were very young our parents were everything to us.\u00a0 <\/span>We wanted their love more than anything else.\u00a0 <\/span>And especially with our Mom\u2019s, we were recipients of unconditional love.\u00a0 <\/span>We soon learned that such love was most lavishly displayed when we did what our parents commanded us to do, or didn\u2019t do what they wanted us not to do, as the case might dictate.\u00a0 <\/span>At first, we didn\u2019t question their authority or their commandments.\u00a0 <\/span>Whatever they said was what we would do.\u00a0 <\/span>But then, as we grew older, we began to question.\u00a0 <\/span>Some of us even dared to know better than our parents!\u00a0 <\/span>And like all good parents, they let us go.\u00a0 <\/span>And so, there came a time when we found ourselves out on our own, replicating the same cycle of parent and child, soon to be idolized by our own children.\u00a0 <\/span>And when they idolized us, we often reflected on how brilliant our own parents really were after all.<\/font><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/span><\/o:o:p><\/font><\/p>\n

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Isn\u2019t that similar to how our relationship goes with Jesus?\u00a0 <\/span>When we first learn about God, we don\u2019t question his commandments.\u00a0 <\/span>But the more we learn; the more we begin to question.\u00a0 <\/span>And there comes a time in our relationship with God, after we learn to think for ourselves, that we even dare to second guess what God has revealed as his law through Holy Mother the Church.\u00a0 <\/span>Sometimes I hear that sentiment quite explicitly.\u00a0 <\/span>\u201cWell, I know what the Church teaches, but I don\u2019t believe that\u201d\u00a0 <\/span>Really.\u00a0<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

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You see, there is a difference.\u00a0 <\/span>Because unlike the relationship we have with our children, we do not ever achieve parity with God.\u00a0 <\/span>God remains so far above us that we cannot appreciate the depth of the separation.\u00a0 <\/span>True, He is an intimate God who sent His only son among us.\u00a0 <\/span>But, His ways are not our ways, and we don\u2019t understand why things are the way they are.\u00a0 <\/span>That\u2019s why He left the Apostles and the Church for us; to teach us the truth so that we could believe.\u00a0 <\/span>And by believing, we mean accepting on faith what the Church teaches.<\/font><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/span><\/o:o:p><\/font><\/p>\n

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For all those who believe and keep His commandments; for all those who remain in Jesus love, the reward is clear.\u00a0 <\/span>Our joy will be complete.\u00a0 <\/span>It is that simple.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/span><\/o:o:p><\/font><\/p>\n

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Thursday of 5th Week of Easter Acts 15: 7-21; John 15: 9-11 By Deacon Larry Brockman \u00a0 \u201cRemain in my Love\u201d.\u00a0 That is Jesus\u2019 advice to us.\u00a0 And how do we do that- by keeping Jesus\u2019 commandments to us: loving God first, and our neighbor as ourselves.\u00a0 After all, that was his primary commandment.\u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0 […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[5],"tags":[142,140,141],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.deaconlarry.org\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/222"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.deaconlarry.org\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.deaconlarry.org\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.deaconlarry.org\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.deaconlarry.org\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=222"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/www.deaconlarry.org\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/222\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.deaconlarry.org\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=222"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.deaconlarry.org\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=222"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.deaconlarry.org\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=222"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}