Thursday, July 18, 2013

Loving Unconditionally


This  morning in meditation, I went through my retreat notes.  The director to which I was assigned asked each of her directees to begin each prayer hour by telling God what grace we wanted from that prayer hour but to also ask God what grace He wanted for us during that time.  In all of them I asked the Lord for the grace of intimacy.  Other gifts for which I asked were a deepening of my faith and trust.  Many times, the graces which God asked for me were similar to what I was asking.

 Here is one of the gems of that week spent alone with the Lord:

 The Lord reminded me that His love for me is everlasting, eternal, forever (He really wanted me to understand the “forever”); that He loved me before I was born, created me out of love, that I have been placed here on earth to learn to love and to be loved and loving.  He also reminded me that I am to love others as He loves me, that is, unconditionally.  He asked that I love them through their difficulties and when they are being difficult, as the one suffering the most when they are difficult is the persons themselves. Therefore, it is important, especially at those times, as the Lord prompted me, to be gentle, kind, compassionate and loving.  A difficult person may be unaware of being difficult and it is then that kindness, gentleness, compassion and love are extremely important.  

There are many other retreat gems that I might share with you throughout the year!  I encourage you, if possible, to take time apart to just be with the Lord in prayer and reflections on the Scriptures. I encourage you to watch for opportunities at retreat centers for this kind of space alone with God.

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