God’s Will is Love
The Roman Catholic Church and its members profess four marks of its identity in the Nicene Creed – one, holy, catholic and apostolic. The “apostolic” nature of the Church reflects the love of God in action. Apostolic means “to send” and all in the Body of Christ as part of being Catholic are “sent” in their own way to preach the Good News or the Gospel that Jesus is Lord ( ). The successors to the Twelve Apostles have a special responsibility to preach the Good News of Jesus, but here it is the inclusive nature of being “apostolic” as part of Catholic identity that is being illuminated.
Jesus’ mission is defined at various points in the Gospels. His mission is to do the Will of the one who sent him. Knowing that Jesus and the Father are manifestations of the reality of God as Trinity, a Trinitarian perspective will be taken to comprehend key concepts regarding the “Father’s Will” in Scripture. This paper will seek to make plain that the Will of God is Love lived in Jesus. This love is the action of going out from oneself. Therefore, the substance of God is Love. Love is the essence of God’s being, which is why the Word of God went out at the time of creation as explained in the Gospel of John, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things came to be through him and without him nothing came to be. What came to be through him was life” (Jn 1:1-3). John’s takes the expression the Word of God from creation all the way to the re-creation through Jesus, God Incarnate. “And the Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us, and we saw his glory, the glory as of the Father’s only Son, full of grace and truth” (Jn 1:14). Jesus brought life. Jesus declares in the Gospel of John, “I do not seek my own will but the will of the one who sent me” (Jn 5:30). The importance of hearing the voice of God is expressed in this passage of Scripture, “Moreover, the Father who sent me has testified on my behalf. But you have never heard his voice nor seen his form, and you do not have his word remaining in you, because you do not believe in the one whom he has sent” (Jn 5:38). There is a caution given here of those who are not open to life. Jesus and the Father “raises the dead and gives life” (Jn 5:21).
A basic concept in Trinitarian theology is God as a Divine Community, self-communicating Persons, loving each other perfectly. The human race enjoys the over flow of this manifestation of Divine Love communicated. God’s communication is dynamic! It is out of this self-giving love that life comes into the world. As Karl Rahner explains, “The one God communicates himself in absolute mystery revealed to us only by Christ: God’s self-communication is truly a self-communication. He does not merely indirectly give his creature some share of himself by creating and giving us created and finite realities through his omnipotent efficient causality. In a quasi-formal causality he really and in the strictest sense of the word bestows himself.” The word in the Old Testament that is most specific to God is חֶ֔סֶד which translates as covenantal love, faithful love, grace and favor bestowed upon one who is in need of help from a higher power. Humanity’s need for redemption is dependent upon God’s חֶ֔סֶד . This is God’s Will given to us and expected of us. In 1 John 4: 7-8, the community is instructed, “Beloved, let us love one another, because love is of God; everyone who loves is begotten by God and knows God. Whoever is without love does not know God, for God is love.” Love is the mission of Jesus as well as the mission for Catholics who seek to do the Will of God. 1 John 4: 9-11, continues, “God sent his only Son into the world so that we might have life through him. In this is love; not that we have loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as expiation for our sins. Beloved, if God so loved us, we also must love one another.” It can be seen here that Jesus was sent by God to bring life into the world through love.
If indeed the special purpose and charism of the Congregation of the Sisters of the Holy Family of Nazareth is LOVE, as stated in the Covenant of Love, “called to extend the Kingdom of God’s love among ourselves and others…We witness to love” and stated in the mission statement, “We are committed to creating communities of love” than it is essential that the biblical understanding of God’s love is followed in all matters of the religious congregation, including governance structures.
God’s Love in the Old Testament
In the Old Testament a line that appears most often as a description of God’s will as love is found in the book of Jonah:
יָדַ֗עְתִּי כִּ֤י אַתָּה֙ אֵֽל־חַנּ֣וּן וְרַח֔וּם אֶ֤רֶךְ אַפַּ֙יִם֙ וְרַב־חֶ֔סֶד וְנִחָ֖ם עַל־הָרָעָֽה׃ (Jon 4:2 WTT)
Jonah in anger professes God’s essential character as he states, “I knew that you were a God gracious, compassionate, slow to anger and of great loving kindness, and pitying the evils done to others.” Yahweh responsed to Jonah with the question “Are you rightly angry? (Jon 4:4)” Jonah is angry with God, because Yahweh is not showing “tough love.” These are the Assyrians he is concerned about, the great enemy of Israel, who conquered them, took them into captivity, and cause tremendous suffering to the people of Israel. It is beyond Jonah’s understanding of God’s will that God should be concerned about them let alone show them the same loving kindness of the covenantal love of חֶ֔סֶד. God’s attribute of love is one of patience and providence. The word רַח֔וּם is a word that translates as “womb love.” It is the love that a mother has for the child of her womb, which ascribes to God a tender, nurturing, providing love. What mother would want to cause suffering to her child? Yet, Jonah wants the Ninivites to suffer. More than that he wants them wiped out! Dead. However, Jonah knows that that is not who Yahweh is, and that if Ninivah repeats that they will get off free of any harm, which is why Jonah decides to forgo this mission and flee to Tarshish, “from before the face of Yahweh” (Jon ). Jonah then enters upon a spiritual journey encountering the determination of God’s love. Jonah’s journey is the journey of anyone who turns away from carrying out God’s will of love. When one turns away from “the face of Yahweh” because God is loving, merciful and slow to anger that one begins a spiritual descent. The author of the book of Jonah indicates this with the word יֵּ֙רֶד translated as “went down.” As Jonah leaves the loving face of God he begins a series of descents. He goes down to Joppa in order to go to Tarshish, which is the farthest place from God (Jon 1:3). Then he goes down into the bottom of the ship (Jon 1:5) where he falls asleep into the same sleep that Adam was in when God created Eve. Lastly, Jonah descends the depths of the sea to the ends of the mountains, before Yahweh lifts his life from the pit (Jon 2: 7). God’s will is a process of lifting us from the pits of our begrudging, hateful, resistanting, unloving behaviors, so that we might live in love.
God’s Love in the New Testament
The highest expression of discipleship in the New Testament is to live in love, both of God and neighbor. Jesus states this in a conversation he has with the religious leaders. When asked what is the greatest commandment that is expressive of God’s will, Jesus responds, “You shall love the Lord, you God, with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind. This is the greatest and the first commandment. The second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. The whole law and the prophets depend on these two commandments” (Matt 22:37-40). It is clear that at the heart of God’s revelation and God’s will is to love. More importantly is the understanding of love. What does it look like in practice? There are many distorted images of love in the world. For instance, a woman who is being abused by her husband associates love with suffering, because he says that he loves her and then beats her. Or there is the manipulative love of an alcoholic that destroys trust with lies and tries to reestablish confidence with the words “I love you.” Some might even go so far as to try and use the cross of Jesus Christ as a means of persuasion to get the person to continue to accept their ungodly behavior by telling the person to “carry their cross.” Jesus only carried the cross one day. The rest of the time he was trying to spread God’s love through healing, preaching and challenging the religious leaders of his day to see the true vision of the Kingdom of God’s love.
The early Christian community was faced with the challenge to live in love, and so they left behind writings with instructions as to what this should look like. First in the letters of John there is an affirmation regarding the commandment to love, “Beloved, let us love one another, because love is of God; everyone who loves is begotten by God and knows God. Whoever is without love does not know God, for God is love” (1 Jn 4: 7-8). A person can not separate God’s will from the obligation to act in loving ways. This loving way is the very apostolic nature of a Christian, because the Father’s sending of the Son is the greatest act of love God has shown to the human race. This was pure gift not earned by any person. 1 John 4: 9-10 declares, “In this way the love of God was revealed to us: God sent his only Son into the world so that we might have life through him. In this is love: not that we have loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as expiation for our sins.” Being Christian calls each one to imitate Jesus’ love as 1 John 4: 11 articulates “Beloved, if God so loved us, we also must love one another.” Being given a congregational charism of love binds the religious community with a special vow to witness to love on all levels of behavior. Mother Mary of Jesus the Good Shepherd realizing this included in her first constitutions of her founding congregation, “Each sister….by her three religious vows…will give herself entirely to Christ for the purpose of faithfully fulfilling the great commandment of the Love of God and neighbor” (Chap. I, 6).
Love Defined
The most illuminated description of love in the New Testament is found in Paul’s letter that he wrote to the Corinthian church. Paul writes of many “good deeds” done in the name of Christ only to say that no act of suffering can compare to a person who lives their life in love. He goes so far as to say “if I give away everything I own, and if I hand my body over so that I may boast but do not have love I gain nothing” (1 Cor 13:3). St. Paul’s understanding of the highest act offered to God is not suffering. Catholics especially like to quote the merit of suffering by saying “carry your cross” or glorify suffering by saying “die to self” and be a martyr. Not that the sacrifice of a martyr should not be looked upon with the greatest admiration for the ultimate price to pay for one’s faith. However, St. Paul who suffered greatly and eventually was martyred is saying here that love not suffering fulfills the will of God.
A person who lives in love needs to exhibit the following, “Love is patient, love is kind. It is not jealous, [love] is not pompous, it is not inflated, it is not rude, it does not seek its own interests, it is not quick-tempered, it does not brood over injury, it does not rejoice over wrongdoing but rejoices with the truth. It bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never fails” (1 Cor 13:4-8). St. Paul calls this the “more excellent way” (1 Cor 12:31). Following God’s will is really more a matter of learning how to live in loving relationship with one another. Community should be concerned with living in the truth. A pursuit of truth needs to accompany living in love as 1 Pt 1:22 instructs, “Since you have purified yourselves by obedience to the truth for sincere mutual love, love one another intensely from a [pure] heart.”
Fiat Voluntas Tua
For the Sisters of the Holy Family of Nazareth, God’s Will is particularly important. In the current Constitutions the mission statement states that the Sisters of the Holy Family of Nazareth are to be “obedient and faithful to the will of God.” There is a plethora of references as to what this should look like in the actions, decisions and behaviors of the Sisters. It is clearly outlined and defined in the “Charism Statement” of the Constitutions that the Sisters lives need to be “centered in the love of God and one another” and that we are to “witness to love” and “extend the Kingdom of God’s love among ourselves and other.” Elaborated upon in the “Mission Statement” is a Trinitarian concept of God’s mutual self-giving when it describes the Holy Family in terms of “three persons in communion with God and one another.” More explicitly is the connection between love and life that Scripture makes, when the document beautifully explains, “Mindful that it is in an environment of love that persons come to fullness of life…we are committed to creating communities of love and hope…” There is clearly an understanding of the vow of obedience in the chief document of the Constitutions that is dependent on the biblical image of following God’s Will to act in love for the propagation of life.
In an earlier, defining document, love is rendered as pivotal. The Special Purpose of the Congregation of the Sisters of the Holy Family of Nazareth relates to both the Trinitarian modal of love as well as the charism of love for this congregation. Mother Mary of Jesus the Good Shepherd is quoted in her conferences, “The Word Incarnate and Love itself came from Nazareth to fill the entire world. Hence, charity must always flourish and reign among us…” This understanding comes from the foundress whose the vision of Nazareth matured over the years, as she spoke them only a few years before her death. The fundamental point of this document is the clarity of direction that Father Lechert perceived through listening to Mother Mary. The document states, “He understood immediately that the structural motif of this new religious community was to be LOVE in all its aspects. From the very beginning God manifested Himself to our Mother as Love… The building of the Kingdom of God, the principal objective of her Nazareth family consisted in permeating each element of religious life with love; the first Constitutions, paragraph by paragraph are motivated by this principle of love” Love is the consistent thread by which the charism of the Sisters of the Holy Family of Nazareth is being expressed from Mother Foundress, to Fr. Lechert, to the post Vatican II General Chapter called specifically for the purpose of defining the heart and purpose of the Congregation of the Sisters of the Holy Family of Nazareth. The charism not the law governs the direction of a religious group, especially Christians.
What is Love?
Laws are intended to create order, but the Spirit gives life. It is far more excellent to live in the Spirit rather then by the letter of the Law.