7. Does God love me too?
One day a mother
was talking to her oldest son about the various problems that are troubling all
the teenagers nowadays.
Sometime later, the
discussion turned to God and the mother asked her son what his friends believe
about Him.
-Some children,
mum, believe simply that there is a superior power who governs the world.
Others say that there is nothing, neither God nor soul. They believe that
everything is material and ends with death, that is why they declare themselves
as atheists. Others, on the other hand, believe that there is a God but He
isn't concerned with them. Of course, there are those who believe in His
existence and go to church.
-What do you
believe, my child?
-To be honest mum,
sometimes I believe and sometimes I have doubts. I won't hide from you that
sometimes I don't want to think that there is a God.
-What is it that
makes you think like that, my child?
-Mum, I am at an
age, when I will make some mistakes like a child, some sins that, as we have
been told in church, God doesn't want us to make. But I am weak and many times
I cannot resist their power.
So, when I told
this to someone who knows about religious things, he made me feel so bad and
disappointed.
-Explain to me what
he said, my son?
-He told me that I
am a very sinful person, that's why I will be punished if I don't immediately
change my life. He told me that I should be very careful not to make God angry
with me and He punishes me. After that, I didn't want to have anything to do
with God anymore, because I couldn't feel that I am such a wretched person. Basically,
I have nothing against God, but I cannot continuously feel that God is watching
me and looking for a reason to find something to condemn me for my human
mistakes and punish me. What would you
do, mum, if you felt like that? Could you continuously think of a God, who is
ready to punish you, because you are human and make mistakes? I think this is
the main reason why many children don't want to think about God.
-I am sorry, my
son, that your soul was hurt by such thoughts and doubts about our good God.
But, I would like, if you let me, to tell you what they say about our God, not
anybody who just happens to concern themselves with God, but people who knew
Him and loved Him, as our Saints did.
-Mum, who is able
to live today like the Saints and follow the hard life that they made in order
to be sanctified?
-The fact is, my
child, that all of us make the same mistake about the Saints. We believe that
they became sanctified only because of their great exercise. This is wrong. I
could say that it's a great and tragic mistake.
-What else, then,
could sanctify them, that I could not understand?
-Our Saints, my
child were not sanctified by the exercise that they made, but by the divine
love which was burning in their hearts for our Heavenly Father and the absolute
trust which they had in Him. Exercise was a way to keep their bodies and souls
humble. With this they were trying to eliminate their carnal weaknesses which
polluted them and to release their souls from the bonds of their passions.
Exercise was just the tool, which their divinely in love hearts were using to
fly up to the high mountain peaks of holiness. Exercise was their own choice
and not something that God asked from them, to prove how much they loved Him.
I, for example, as your mother, have I ever asked you to make some great
sacrifice to prove how much you love me?
-No, you never
asked me anything like that. The only thing you asked me for, so you would be
happy, was to be good and kind to all people, even to the bad ones and not to
harm anybody.
-Was it very
difficult, what I asked you for?
-No, on the
contrary, I find it very right, good and true. That's why I always try to apply
it in my life, so as my mum you will be happy.
-Well then, as I
didn't ask you to do something difficult, to prove to me that you love me, but
it was enough for me that you love me, respect me and don't do anything bad to
offend me as your mummy, so our good God doesn’t ask you for anything difficult
or impossible. The only thing He asks you for is to recognize Him as the Mother
and Father of your soul and show this by living a courteous life. To live on this
earth as His genuine child. Like His prince, since He is the King of all the
world.
-And when I make
some mistakes and sins, won't I be afraid that He will punish me?
-My son, each
child's father and mother are not judges, ready to judge and condemn their
child for his little human mistakes. Their role is to be tender and
affectionate parents, who are anxious for their child and try to use every
pedagogical way to help him in his struggle to become a valuable and useful
person to society. Isn't that right?
-I agree with you,
mum. I would be very glad to accept a God, Who won't be for me just a judge and
punisher but a merciful Father and God.
-This is the real
truth, my son, about our heavenly Father. He's the most merciful and
compassionate sweet Father, full of affection, adoration, love and tenderness
for all of us, Who is living with the unique joy of seeing us one day in His
heavenly Kingdom. He cannot bear the thought that some of His children, who
have been led astray by Satan's cunning and deceitfulness, would prefer instead
of the joy of Paradise, the unspeakable grief and sorrow of hell. That's why
like a real Mother, He sometimes uses every way, in order to wake us up from
the spiritual lethargy into which Satan has thrown us with deceit. He may even
scold us or impose some sadness to teach us a lesson, for some dangerous
mistakes we commit, so that we stop the catastrophic descent we are taking. But
all these things don't mean that He doesn't love us and the only thing He wants
to do is punish and hurt us. Every time,
I, your mum, was forced to impose some small punishment on you, did I do
it because I hated you or, because of my motherly love for you, I was afraid
that you would do or yourself suffer something bad? What was the motivation of
my motherly heart? Love or hate for you?
-Of course, your
great motherly love for me!
-My love, my son,
is a small, very small example of His own infinite love for you. Every time that I, in every way, will show
the great motherly love and adoration I have for you, it will be an opportunity
for you to remember how infinitely our heavenly Father loves and adores you. My
love for you, my sweet boy, is, like every mother for her baby, unique. It is
something more than that which people call love. A pure, divine, heavenly love,
which makes you as a mother love your baby so much, that you would sacrifice
your own life if necessary! And our good God is not only an affectionate
Father, but a sweet Mother ready to sacrifice Himself for His child's life.
This is the only way for you to be able to understand the ultimate sacrifice,
which our sweet Jesus made for us, by sacrificing Himself on the cross, to
redeem us from the terrible bondages of Satan! Well, my son, are you afraid of
that God? Are you keeping this sweet and Mother out of your life?
-I had never
thought about it like that, mum, that's why now I feel sad for my doubts and
the various silly thoughts I had about our good God. I couldn't imagine that He
could love me, in the same way you, my mother, loves me. But now, I would like
you to tell me, how I can correct all my mistakes but also what I could offer
Him from now on?
-My son, the only
thing He is asking from you, first of all, is to believe that He is the
heavenly Father and Mother of your soul and from now on to call Him with the
sweetest words in the world: "my sweet Father". Then, you should show
Him with the courteousness of your behaviour and your whole life, that you are His son and His prince. And if you make a mistake, as you
are human, don't be disappointed and run away from Him with fear or shame, but
with trust and love enter into His arms, to ask Him humbly and without excuses
to forgive you for your mistake. Then you will give Him the opportunity, not
only to forgive you, but also to adorn you with the bright clothes of holiness.
-Mum, what, in
other words, is holiness?
-My child, holiness
is the great secret divine love that someone has inside his mind, his heart and
his soul for his heavenly Father and God. When God sees this love, He floods
His child's soul with every gift of the Holy Spirit. Our Saints were not
anything other than simple and humble souls, who with divine love in their
hearts, left all their existence with absolute love, trust and obedience into
the divine hands of their beloved King God! I wish that you, my beloved child,
would be like them and I will be proud of you as His own earthly angel!
-Mum, from today
on, I promise you that I will struggle with all my heart to love and trust our
heavenly Father and God, like you do!