Love Expressed Through Action

From Live and Lead, my monthly newsletter to my readers

Dear friends,

It was minutes before a scheduled podcast interview about my new book was about to begin. A friend and ministry colleague was my interviewer. She let out a deep sigh and then asked me, “Becky, what do we do right now?” Even though, I had a guess what she was referring to, I asked her what she meant. Her reply, “With what I am seeing on the news lately?” She went on, “What does my faith ask of me right now?”    

This was not the first time I had someone ask me that question in the last few weeks. It is a question I am asked by directees, friends, family members, neighbors, and colleagues.  It is a question I am also bringing to my own prayer as I witness and hear so much suffering in our world. Wars. Deportations. Violence. Division. Fear. Uncertainty. And the national and world news does not include what may be going on in our personal lives.  Broken relationships.  Attempts to forgive or receive forgiveness. Sickness. Death. Grief.  Mental health. Financial struggles. And on and on.  

As I pray with these questions personally—“What do I do right now?” and “What does my faith ask of me right now?”—there is one thing that helps me reground in hope and truth.  Love is not passive. Love is expressed through action.  I offer us a few thoughts to take into our prayer as we each discern our response.  

God’s love is active.

God does not passively love us. God loves us through the active prompting of the Holy Spirit.  We can feel the movement of the Holy Spirit in our lives interiorly.  Sometimes, the movement of the Holy Spirit brings us peace, calm, strength, and courage. It is a way of God actively loving us in our fear, worry, anxiety. Other times, the Holy Spirit’s movement is one of sorrow, righteous anger, or even a restlessness. God is actively loving us here to wake us up to something that feels off, needs our attention, and possibly even needs our own action. 

I invite you to pause and notice what is stirring within you. How is God actively loving you right now? 

God’s love invites a response.  

A key part of our Christian faith is the understanding that God initiates, or we could say God actively loves us first. We are invited to respond to this love not just with words, but with action.  We cannot be in a relationship with God without an active response. When Jesus called the disciples to drop their nets and follow him, they had to respond with the action of doing so and moving their feet. When he told Mary Magdalene at the Resurrection to go, she had to actively choose to do what Jesus asked of her.    

The same is true for us. God is actively loving us right now. The Holy Spirit is prompting each of us in some way. It is our choice to respond to God’s love or not. 1 John 3:18 reminds us of this, “Let us love, not in word or speech, but in truth and action.” St. Ignatius of Loyola begins his meditation “The Contemplation to Learn to Love Like God” with this statement: Love shows itself in deeds more than words. 

As you notice and name God actively loving you, what is your response to God, not only with words, but with action? 

Love expressed through action:    

When my friend asked me, “What do we do right now?” and “What does my faith ask of me right now?”, I invited her to pray and discern, to look to Jesus in the Gospels, to remember the teachings of our Catholic faith, and when God invites you to act, do so with the boldness of the first disciples.  

God is actively loving every one of us reading this. The Holy Spirit is alive and moving in every single one of us prompting us to respond to God’s love with action. In some concrete way, God is urging us to bring the Gospel to life. Perhaps, our action is to be a prayer warrior for something we see and have no control over. God might be asking us to use our voices. Maybe we are being called to see all people through the eyes of God. Or maybe there is a concrete way God is urging us to show mercy and compassion.  

I do not know what God is asking of you right now, but I do know that God is actively loving you and inviting a response that is both in word and action.  

I invite you to pause and look at the world and your own personal life and ask:  How is God inviting me to express love through action? 

Love with boldness: 

I am praying with these same questions that I offer all of us. I pray that when we know the way God is actively inviting us to love with action, we do so with boldness and courage. 

May we pray with fervor. May we act with urgency. May we go forward to express love for God, for family, for friends, for colleagues, for our neighbors, for all of God’s people with bold action.  

Know I am praying for you and with you!

Peace,

Becky