‘O God, I want to do what pleases you’ (Ps 40:9)

As the calendar year draws to a close, one question may be on the minds of Christians: do I love Jesus? Does my heart burn with love for him? Given that love is the foundation of spiritual growth, it is worth reflecting on our experiences throughout 2018 through the lens of love. As we grow in our faith, we come to understand that God wants our whole life to be centred on loving him: ‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul and with all your mind, and your neighbour as yourself’ (cf. Mk 12:28–32). Our closest neighbour—even before our neighbour or our spouse—is first and foremost God. If I love God, my love for others will grow and be purified.

Our lack of love in this world stems first and foremost from the fact that we do not love God enough. Hatred for others stems from a lack of love for Jesus. ‘I know you; you do not have the love of God within you’ (Jn 5:42). Most of our difficulties in the spiritual life stem from the fact that we do not love God enough; thus, sin is a lack of love for Jesus. If I grow in my spiritual life, my love for Jesus will ensure that, for nothing in the world, would I wish to harm him. If I truly love Jesus, I will even accept suffering and death rather than sin. Saint Thérèse of the Child Jesus prayed: ‘Take me, Lord, before I commit a mortal sin’. But for us, even though we are active members, committed Christians, and consecrated persons, when we sin deliberately and persist in a state of sin, it is a sign that our love for God has not matured very much.

Jesus longs so much for us to love him that he pleads for our love: ‘Peter, do you love me?’ And Peter replies: ‘Yes, Lord, you know that I love you’ (Jn 21:15). God begs for our love. The Catechism of the Catholic Church states that ‘God thirsts for us to thirst for him’. When Jesus says to the Samaritan woman, ‘I am thirsty’, he is also speaking of a thirst that goes beyond mere water. It is a thirst for love. In a loving relationship, we want to hear the other person say that they love us. Sometimes people say: ‘When I ask God for what I want, my prayer is over. I don’t know what else to say to him. I don’t understand why people spend an hour in prayer, and so on’. In a marriage, a husband cannot be content with a wife who merely makes demands of him, and vice versa. So in prayer, I can also take time to converse with Jesus, saying to him: ‘Lord, I love you. Lord, my love for you isn’t very strong. Lord, increase it, make it grow; help me to truly fall in love with you. Lord, life is nothing if we don’t love you. My life is nothing if I don’t grow in my love for you this year. I have often done things for you, but I realise that my love is not as great as it ought to be. Help me to love you, Jesus.’

Anyone who grows in their love for Jesus will seek to please him. ‘I love my Father and I do what he has commanded me’ (Jn 14:31). Those who love seek to please and do not seek to hurt. Jesus loves the Father so much that his sole aim is to please him: ‘The One who sent me is always with me, because I always do what pleases him’ (Jn 8:29). Throughout his life, Jesus regarded ‘pleasing the Father’ as his sustenance. ‘My food is to do the will of my Father’ (Jn 4:34). Love drives us to please others. Do I always seek to please Jesus? If you say you love someone, they will ask you what proves it. In a relationship, the one who loves stays in touch, gives gifts and seeks to help the other person flourish.

My love for Jesus must drive me to please him. As I reflect on my life in 2018, can I see evidence that I have loved Jesus deeply? Yet Jesus himself says that from those to whom much has been given, much will be required. The more I love Jesus, the more I will need to please him even more than usual each time. There are Christians who think they are very spiritual, as if they had nothing left to do to grow in their faith. They are smug and proud, and full of themselves. Yet the more I grow in my love for Jesus, the more I will please him a little more each day. If I live out the Word of God, I please Jesus. In the Movement of the Incarnation, if someone does not seek to please Jesus, they will make no effort to live out the Word of God. In the world, people want to seduce; they want to attract attention. Often we seek to please people more than God, and in doing so we commit many sins. ‘For am I now seeking the approval of people, or of God? Am I trying to please people? If I were still trying to please people, I would no longer be a servant of Christ’ (Gal 1:10). Do I seek to please Jesus at least as much as I seek to please people? Besides, people let me down and will never love me as my heart hopes. Jesus, on the other hand, loves me infinitely, so why not please him? ‘My God, I want to do what pleases you’ (Ps 40:9). In the coming year, our main aim should be to please Jesus: ‘Our aim is to please him’ (2 Cor 5:8).

Henri Bayemi