In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, One God, Amen

I thank the True Life in God association.

I thank Mrs. Vassula Ryden and all those in charge of this blessed journey.

The subject is: Divine love for one another binds us in unity together with God.

Divine love manifests itself to us all in three ways: 

First: The Love of God the Creator

From all eternity God was alone and contented with Himself, but He did not want to remain alone and because of His love for us even before we existed, He chose to create us and our existence was the fruit of His love and the fruit of His generosity.

One of the signs of God’s love for us is that He created man on the sixth day of creation. He created everything for him so that he should not want.

From the works of His generosity, He created the sun to light up the day and the moon and the stars to light up the night. He put in place the laws of astronomy and defined the boundaries of  the seas and the rivers. He subjugated the nature of animals and all foods; then finally, He created man after having prepared everything for him.

Furthermore,  He created us in His image, after His likeness, in the sense that man has a mind and a spirit and he has an eternal spirit defined by purity, innocence and the love of charity; also in terms of leadership and authority.

And because God loved man, He put him in a paradise as we read in the book of Genesis: “Now the LORD God had planted a garden in the east, in Eden; and there he put the man he had formed.” (Genesis 2:8)

Similarly, because of His Love for man, He created a helper suitable for him. Adam said: “This is now bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh; she shall be called ‘woman’ for she was taken out of man.” (Genesis 2:23) Male and female HE created them in order to be fruitful, increase in number and fill the earth. (Genesis 1:27-28)

We are all God’s creation, therefore we are brothers and sisters in creation.

Second: The Love of God the Shepherd

Even after the fall of the first man, God did not give up on His love. While He was punishing Adam and Eve, He mixed the punishment with a promise of salvation – that the offspring of the woman would crush the head of the serpent. He did not curse Adam and Eve as He cursed the serpent. As a proof of His love for man, He took care of him through the law and the prophets.

When man went astray and foolishly said in his heart that there was no God, the Lord sent  prophets to remind them of the will of God and His commands. He also provided them with the Divine Revelation and the written Law and kept sending them prophets to guide them.

Because of His Love for man, God was their Good Shepherd as David chanted saying: “The LORD is my shepherd; I shall not want.” (Psalm 23:1)

In the New Testament, He said: “I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for his sheep” (John 10:11)

The care God has for His people covers all details.  He takes care of them materially and spiritually and saves them from the hands of their enemies.

Moses said: “Stand firm and you will see the deliverance the Lord will bring you today, (…), the LORD will fight for you; you need only to be still.” (Exodus 14:13-14)  And in the wilderness He fed them manna and quail.

Daniel said: “My God sent His angel and He shut the mouths of the lions.” (Daniel 6:22). In Psalm 34:7 we read: “The angel of the LORD encamps around those who fear him, and he delivers them.”

Our love for each other places our lives in God’s care as well as this Conference, this trip and all the participants.

Third: The Love of God the Father

Because of His love for us, God called us sons and daughters. As John the Evangelist said: “See what great love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God!” (1 John 3:1).

We pray saying: “Our Father who art in Heaven”, and in the book of Proverbs it is written: “My son, give me your heart and let your eyes delight in my ways.”  (Proverbs 23:26)

The Prophet Isaiah said: “Yet you, Lord, are our Father. We are the clay, you are the potter; we are all the work of your hand.” (Isaiah 64:8)

The word “father” carries the meanings of love, tenderness, care, compassion and pity, as David says in Psalm 103.  “As a father has compassion on his children, so the LORD has compassion on those who fear Him; for He knows how we are formed, He remembers that we are dust.” (Psalm 103: 13-14)

So if the Lord is our Father, we are all brothers and sisters, and if we have this love from God, we must love one another.

I thank you for your love and have a blessed trip.

Fr. Rouays El Ourachalimi