Why does God love us?

This is the fourth in a series of posts about ‘Love’ from the Daily Meditations of Fr. Richard Rohr. In this one he talks about the reasons why God loves us, each and every one of us.

Why does God love us?

God cares, for some wonderful reason, despite all of our smallness and silliness. Divine love does not depend on our doing nice or right things. Divine love is not determined by the worthiness of the object of love but by the Subject, who is always and only Love. God does not love us if we change, as we almost all think; but God loves us so that we can change.

No matter what we do, God, in great love and humility, says, “That’s what I work with. That’s all I work with!” It’s the mustard seed with which God does great things. Our life experiences, “good and bad alike,” are invited to the great wedding feast (Matthew 22:10). They are the raw material that God uses to prepare the banquet.

Mantra:
Be in love

When I sit and think about why God might love me, it’s quite humbling. Seeing it written in such terms as Fr. Richard uses here, it becomes even more so. But it’s so good to be reminded occasionally that God loves us, not because of anything we might have done to earn it, but just because of who we are, and no matter who we are. I know that if God’s love for me was dependent on anything I’d done, I would fall woefully short of the mark. But ‘divine love does not depend on our doing nice or right things’, it doesn’t even depend on us accepting it: He loves each one of us utterly, and utterly unconditionally.

The email this came from was one of Fr. Richard Rohr’s Daily Meditations. If you would like to subscribe too, and I can recommend them, the website is here: The Center for Action and Contemplation. It won’t cost you anything.