A Few Words On Love
Reflections from a meaningful confession.
Yesterday, as I walked away from the confessionary, I couldn’t help but feel an overwhelming wave of emotions come over me. It’s perhaps the first time that a confession touches me so deeply, and I believe it’s because it had been a long time since I had felt so devoid of grace. It’s at your lowest points when seeing God’s mercy and love is the most impactful.
I won’t go into details, but I shared with the priest how even though I felt I was making progress, there were certain things that I just couldn’t seem to leave behind, the main one being a constant fear of the future, and a lack of trust in God’s plan for me, which still leads me to focus too much on things of the world and too little on the eternal.
“It’s funny. We go through life giving all the love we have away to things that don’t matter, and to things that leave us empty and unsatisfied. You love the world and the things in it. You look for peace in all the wrong places.
And those things end up distracting you from the one thing you truly need: to have Jesus in your life.
Remember when He told the rich young man: ‘Sell your possessions, give them to the poor, and follow me.’ Without Him, everything else is worthless. So if things are distracting you and keeping you from placing God at the center of your life, they are not worth your time.”
Our hearts are reckless, looking for love in all the wrong places. Anything that isn’t God’s love will be a deficient substitute that will leave us unsatisfied.
The only love that will ever satisfy us is the love of God, which can be felt in charity, in meaningful relationships with our peers, or at the foot of the altar. But it’s truly the only love that will ever quench our thirst.
How often do we waste our love with synthetic substitutes? How often do we reject God’s love, choosing instead the momentary comfort and faux embrace of sin?
Nothing in this world is enough to fill the emptiness in your soul. Nothing in this world will make you whole. The only One who can bring peace to your weary mind is not in this world nor in the things in it.
Jesus is enough. He is all that you need. Even though we were gifted decades on this earth to prepare for eternity, we are called to wait patiently for the day when we get to hopefully see the face of Our Savior.
After my confession, I spent the following hour looking at his face, at this Man nailed on a Roman cross, who opens his arms lovingly even after I betray Him for the thousandth time.
It’s difficult to explain, but after tasting God’s love, you understand that Jesus is, in fact, enough.
Don’t give your love to those that don’t appreciate it.
Don’t waste it in things that’ll leave you regretful and unsatisfied. Remember that the devil is a liar, and sin won’t ever bring you true satisfaction.
Place God at the center of your life, and only then will everything else make sense.
But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.
— Matthew 6:33
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Thank-you, brother, for sharing this piece.
Two quotes come to mind:
1. From Augustine's "Confessions", Liber VI, caput XI :
" Being enamoured of a happy life, I yet feared it in it's own abode, and fleeing from it, sought after it."
2. From the Roman Emperor Septimus Severus, on his deathbed, and having something of a glimpse of his eminent Eternity, his last words were :
"I have been everything,
and everything is nothing!"
-- Ad multos annos!
+ Pax, frater +
I can’t get get over the sins of my past and thinking I’m worthy. Great read- thank you.