God has chosen us

God loved us first

‘It was not you who chose me’ (Jn 15:16). Many of the faithful are committed to the Church and do good deeds for God. However, there is a danger of believing that it is we who love God first and choose him. ‘This is what love is: it is not that we loved God, but that he loved us’ (1 John 4:10). And St Augustine said: ‘If God had not sought me out, I would not have found him’. When I pray, I am not the one who seeks God first. I find him in the place of my prayer; he is waiting for me there. We often believe that God’s love is limited to giving us material things. Yet it is He who takes the initiative to unite us to Himself. Man’s greatest dignity is communion with God (Vatican II, GS 19).

We are chosen

In the Creed, ‘I believe in God’, we profess our faith in the Trinity and in the mystery of the Church. We must also nurture faith in the Word of God, faith in that Word which says that ‘we are chosen’, and truly believe it. Realising that Jesus has chosen me is not boasting; it is living out the reality of my identity. What a joy it is to realise that I am chosen by God. ‘For you are a people consecrated to the Lord your God. It is you whom the Lord has chosen to be his own special people from among all the peoples of the earth’ (Deut 7:6). God continues the history of salvation today, and it is a history of choice. He chose Abraham, Moses, Jonah, the prophets, the Virgin Mary, and so on. They received God’s grace through the Holy Spirit in a special way.

Through Jesus, we are baptised in the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. Through baptism, we are consecrated to God. That is to say, set apart for him and incorporated into the Body of Christ: ‘Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit, who is in you and whom you have received from God, and that you do not belong to yourselves? Someone has paid the price for your redemption. Therefore, glorify God with your body’ (1 Cor 6:19–20).  Jesus loves us and unites us so closely to his body that we become one with him: ‘Nothing can separate us from the love of God’ (Rom 8:31–39), yet we may nevertheless be dead members within that body.

Our unworthiness by choice

‘It is not because you are the greatest of all peoples that the Lord has set his heart on you and chosen you, for you are the smallest of all peoples’ (Deut 7:7). If Jesus chooses me, it is not because I deserve it. If Jesus chooses me, it is not because I am holy. If Jesus chooses me, it is not because I do good things. ‘God loved us whilst we were still sinners’ (Romans 5:8). Perhaps it is precisely because I am the least worthy that Jesus chooses me. And those whom Jesus chooses, he equips, giving them the means to live out that choice.

Jesus’ choice of us is out of pure love. He chooses what is weak to put the strong to shame, and what is small to put the great of this world to shame. ‘It is because the Lord loves you that he has brought you out of the house of slavery’ (Deut 7:8). If we are humble, we will recognise where we come from. We used to lead lives of darkness, sin, bondage to sin and ignorance. It is by his mighty hand, out of love, that he has set us free. May this month help us to live out our vocation.

Henri Bayemi