PODCAST | The Love of God
On this podcast we are invited to contemplate the apostles’ first encounter with Jesus Christ and how that experience was an encounter with the love He had for them. Jesus is human love with a human nature–the Word made flesh.
After Jesus’ first conversation with Andrew and John, Andrew left the Lord’s house a new man and he want out to find his brother, Simon Peter, and brought him to Jesus. From the get go, Jesus asks them (and us): “Are there other people you can bring to me?”
Part of this following Him is to detect how much He loves us and that’s a key part of the spirituality of St Josemaria Escriva. The truth that we are children of God is the backdrop to everything–that this God of mine loves me infinitely.
Language is a medium of love. To get to know and love someone is a consequence of conversation–a disclosure of each person’s inner self. This is why Jesus is Word because words are a medium of love.
When Jesus Christ taught the apostles how to pray he told them that when you pray begin by saying God loves you, by calling Him “Father”.
How do we experience that God loves us? We have to put Him first and unite ourselves to Him. Only when we walk with Jesus Christ can we experience the love of the Father.
“Before God, who is eternal, you are much more a child than, before you, the tiniest toddler. And besides being a child, you are a child of God. — Don’t forget it” (St. Josemaria Escriva; The Way, no. 860).
Rev. Peter Armenio
Rev. Peter V. Armenio was ordained a priest of the Prelature of Opus Dei in 1980. He is the author of several books published by Midwest Theological Forum, including Highlights of the Catholic Faith. He also served as President of the St. Josemaria Institute from 2006 to 2012. He has been working in campus ministry for the past 30 years and also preaches recollections and gives spiritual direction in Chicago.
