51 lines
2.8 KiB
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51 lines
2.8 KiB
HTML
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<p>About a year and a half ago I wrote an article on the topic of love, and what
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distinguishes it from taste (i.e. loving from liking).
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<sup><a href="#r1" >[1]</a></sup> This article is similar, but instead of
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contrasting love with taste, we're going to be contrasting it with desire.</p>
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<p>I once heard an expression in Spanish that went as follows: <i>"Dios te ama
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como eres, pero no te quiere como eres."</i> To roughly translate into English:
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"God loves you as you are, but He does not desire you as you are." The key
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verbs here in Spanish are <i>amar</i> and <i>querer</i>. The first verb refers
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to what I had described in previous article: a desire for goodness for the
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other person. The second, although often translated as "love" as well, truly
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refers to a "wanting" or a "desire".</p>
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<p>So what is it that this sentence means? To put it plainly, God loves us
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because He desires what is good for us always. He wants us to grow and become
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more fully what He created us to be. And He loves us regardless of how we are;
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or more accurately, He loves us especially when we are struggling or in pain. It
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is at these moments when He shows His great mercy. Yet, He doesn't desire us as
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we are, for we are impure and (often) tainted by sin. He is God, who is goodness
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itself, and therefore cannot be in union with something tainted like us.</p>
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<p>This may seem like a grim picture, but this is where God's mercy and love
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take hold. It is true, He does not desire us in our tainted state of sin, but
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out of sheer love He extends to us His grace for purification, to make us clean.
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He does so through the Sacraments of cleansing: Confession, Baptism, and the
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Eucharist. And even for those who die and have not yet fully divorced themselves
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from their sin, He offers the purifying grace of Purgatory to cleanse our souls.
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He gives us every opportunity to become pure, to become saints, and to be
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desired by Him. And all we have to do is to repent, to pick up our cross, and to
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follow Jesus Christ, His only Son.</p>
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<p>In this month of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, we trust in His blessed Heart, in
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His infinite love for us, in His mercy. And we ask Him that He mould our hearts
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to His, that we may learn to love as He does, and that through His grace we may
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become sons & daughters worthy of being desired by God. If it has been a
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while since your last Confession, consider doing an examination of conscience,
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and bringing your sins before the Lord, that He may forgive you, and heal you.
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And may we pray especially for those who, in particular during this month, find
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themselves furthest from God, that by His grace they may be lead to Him.</p>
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<p>Have a very blessed month of the Sacred Heart of Jesus.</p>
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<h2>References</h2>
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<ol class="refs" >
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<li id="r1" >
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<a href="https://themusicinnoise.net/blog/2020-12-12-what-is-love.html" >
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"What is Love?" on The Music in Noise
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</a>
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</li>
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</ol>
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