What is God's Name: Reflections on the 'Faces' of God

"God IS Love". According to the Scripture, Love is God's name. The answer to the catechism question of why God created us is, "To love and serve God in this life and to be happy with God in the next." Love wants to share itself with others.

Two things about God being Love are of paramount importance and hard for us to grasp and believe:

1. We do not EARN God's love. It precedes us. Before we say or do anything, we are loved by God. It is God's very nature to love us. Paul writes: "When we were still enemies, God...died for us."(Rom.5-10).

2. The second point is this: being made in God's image means we are made for and to love. Love is our Reality. That is why we are commanded to love, so that we may fulfill our raison d'etre, our reason for being. We yearn for love, we thirst for it.

Once we grasp these two points, our life is completely changed. We have learned the secret God wants to reveal to us, to let sink into our heart. This is the Good News for sure.

When we pray: "Thy kingdom come" we are praying for love to reign on earth as in heaven. This has been described as "table fellowship" where no one is excluded. We are praying for the common good. Many are still hungry, many are excluded by others. We pray and we act with God to enlarge that reign of love on our dear earth

Truly, truly love makes the world go round. The very energy of earth and heaven is love. Every mother's love, every father's love, the love of man and wife, of sisters and brothers, all reveal it. And the source of that energy is the One we usually call God but whose name is LOVE.

By Mary Alban Bouchard CSJ
Photo by Mary Doreen Smith CSJ