2018-11-11

朋友们，今天我们读到穷寡妇把一切都捐献给主。她把自己的全副身家捐献出去这种简单的慷慨回应了天主无条件的爱。天主的爱最重要。我们要是不理解这一点，那么我们的灵修生活中的一切都失去平衡。听听圣若望是如何表达天主的爱的：“爱就在于此：不是我们爱了天主，而是他爱了我们，且打发自己的儿子，为我们做赎罪祭。”(若一 4:10)

 

如果我们爱天主只为了使得天主爱我们，那我们就会陷入迷惘。如果我们认为自己可以赚取救赎或者可以用手段来赢得天主的心，那我们就会陷入迷惘。试着这样想：若非因为天主的爱，我们就不会存在。天主无欲无求；因此除了天主之外，其他一切的存在都是因为天主渴望它们各自受益。因此，爱比我们的智力、勇气、意志、设计和目的、甚至我们本身的存在都更重要。

 

Friends, today we read about the poor widow who gave her all to the Lord. Her simple generosity, her offering of her whole livelihood, was a response to God’s unconditional love. God’s love comes first. When we get this wrong, everything else in the spiritual life is thrown off-kilter. Listen to how St. John expresses this love of predilection: "In this is love: not that we have loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as the expiation of our sins."

 

If we play the game of loving God in order to get God to love us, then we are lost. If we think that we can earn salvation or we can work our way into God’s heart, then we are lost. Here’s a way to think about it: we wouldn’t exist were it not for God’s love. God needs nothing; therefore, whatever exists outside of God exists because God desires some good for it. Love precedes, therefore, our intelligence, our courage, our wills, our designs and purposes, indeed, our very existence.