How Does In God's Love relate to the Catholic Church?

 How does In God's Love 
written by Janet Hurlow
relate to 
the Catholic Faith ?

  Chapter 10  We Live to Love God 

                      Section 1 Preface

447          When we read In God’s Love, we are given answers to the following questions: How are the righteous to live?  What are we to do?  Saints, or God’s children, are people who do what?  Blessed are those who do what?  These answers define actions that are moral, virtuous, in union with the spirit of God and done with the spirit of God.  Conversely their opposites comprise actions that are immoral, full of vice and in union with the spirit of the evil one.   In short this is morality.  The morality of In God’s Love will be divided out in the following way: Chapter 10 will deal with the love of God.  Chapter 11 will discuss the love of all of our neighbors and ourselves.  Chapter 12 will look at the habits of the wise and the foolish.

448           According to the Gospel of Matthew, Jesus says, “You shall love your Lord your God, with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.  This is the greatest and the first commandment.”(1)   According to the Catechism “God put us in the world to know, to love, and to serve him, and so to come to paradise.”(2)  We should love God.  The messengers echo this commandment: “Blessings are upon those who are in God’s Spirit, those who have loved God with all of their heart, soul and mind and loved each other.  His blessings are upon His children on Earth.  These are the saints who will see God and live with Him in His place He has prepared for them.”(3)

                      Section 2  We are to Honor God’s Name

449           How are we to love God?  Love of God starts with respect.  We are to respect God.  As the messengers assert, “He is calling, ‘Come back to me.’ This is all He asks of Earth people.  He asks to be loved and respected.”(4)   We are to “bless God in God’s Spirit.”(5)

450          One way to bless and respect God is to bless and honor His name.  According to the Gospel of Matthew, Jesus tells us to pray, “Our Father, in heaven, hallowed be your name.”(6)    The commandments of Exodus state, “You shall not take the name of the LORD your God in vain.”(7)   The messengers fully concur that we are to “Bless His (God’s) Holy name.”(8)   When others do not honor the name of God, the messengers direct us to stand up for God’s name and be blessed.  They passionately write, “This is your God who is insulted.  Blessed is His name forever.  Let those who curse God’s name hear ‘Blessed is His name forever’ from God’s children in return.  All those who bless receive such blessings from God.”(9)

                      Section 3 We are to Take God’s Gifts

451           We are to reach out for God and take His gifts.  The messengers state, “Take this God into your heart.  Most welcome are you into His heart.”(10)   When we do reach out to God, we will receive God’s blessings, for they state, “Come, small people, take God’s hand and come.  Blessings are sent to people who reach out to God.”(11)   According to the Gospel of Matthew, Jesus says, “How much more will the heavenly Father give good things to those who ask him.”(12)   The messengers also tell us to ask for God’s blessings and we will receive them.  They write, “Father, wise and true, blesses the Earth children who seek such blessings.”(13)  

452           When we accept a gift from God, we accept God.  When we reject a gift from God, we reject God.  The messengers profoundly and simply present this reality with “Some people are great givers but are too proud to take….When someone has a gift, it is wise to take it.  Those who do not take a gift from the giver present the language that they are better than the giver.  This is so…. God has a gift.  He wants to give that gift to you.  If you do not accept His gift, God is very displeased.  He has a gift for His children.  Those who receive the gift accept eternal happiness.  Those who do not have the gift have thrown it away.  They do not accept God as a friend.  The gift they share is life.  Give Him your life.  Accept Him and His Spirit, and you will receive eternal life and happiness forever.”(14)   These gifts come from the Holy Spirit, for they state, “Rise up, O sweet spirits of God, sing blessedly.  King of Kings and blessed Father is your God.  Nothing is like Him.  Reach His Spirit on Earth.  Take His gifts.” (15)

453           We are to take the Holy Spirit’s gifts.  We are to take the Holy Spirit.  According to the Gospel of Luke, Jesus proclaims, “How much more will the Father in heaven give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him?”(16)   The messengers also encourage us to “Become God’s vessels.  Take His Spirit.  His Spirit is sent to all who desire it; such gifts as God gives His very dear children.  O such wisdom is in God’s saints.”(17)   As mentioned earlier, all spirits of goodness come from the Holy Spirit,(18) so, when we reach out for the Holy Spirit and the gifts of the Holy Spirit, we are reaching out for these spirits.  It has been mentioned that we are to seek out the spirit of wisdom,(19)  the spirit of kindness,(20)  and the spirit of virtue.(21) 

                      Section 4 We are to Know God 

454           Jesus said, “You shall love the Lord Your God with all your heart… with all your mind.”(22)   We are to know God with our mind and our heart.   It has been mentioned that wisdom, a spirit of the Holy Spirit, brings us to God and we should desire her.(23)  

455           To know God is not only to be wise, but also to live in union with God.  In our life, we are to know God by having a close relationship with Him, as St. Nicholas of Flue, cited by the Catechism, envisions: “My Lord and my God, take from me everything that distances me from you.  My Lord and my God, give me everything that brings me closer to you.  My Lord and my God, detach me from myself to give my all to you.”(24)   The messengers express the importance of our relationship with God for they pointedly state, “O saints of God, wisdom is in placing God in all your undertakings, in all your thoughts and actions.  Live with God, not around Him.”(25)   We are to stay close to God, for they state, “In God’s Spirit, stay. From this Spirit, do not depart.”(26) 

456            God is pleased when we know Him, and as a result, our actions affect others and the Earth.  The messengers write, “God is pleased with such children who bless Earth in His Spirit.  Songs of life are in God’s saints.  In union with God’s Spirit, each one blesses and heals so well.”(27)

                      Section 5 We are to Love God

457           “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.”(28)   As Jesus and St, Nicholas of Flue state, we are to love God totally, or as the messengers put it, “Give your existence to your Maker.”(29)   They also state that “Love is the way to God.  Love has no limit.”(30)     

458            God’s Spirit dwells in those who love Him.  As the messengers state, “God’s Spirit is dwelling here.  His Spirit is dwelling in the heart of souls who believe in Him and love Him.”(31)   Christians love God.  The messengers recognize this in their statement: “Dear ones in Christ Jesus, we are pleased with your spirits.  You have loved with a love that has pleased your God.”(32)   

459           Our love for God, like any love, must be shown in action.  Loving God and obeying God go hand in hand.  If we love God, we obey Him, and if we obey God, we show that we love Him.  This connection is seen in the Old Testament, as the Catechism notes, “If you love the LORD your God, by walking in his ways, and by keeping his commandments and his statutes and his ordinances, then you shall live and multiply.”(33)   This can be seen in the New Testament when according to the Gospel of John, Jesus says, “If you keep my commandments, you will remain in my love.”(34)   The messengers agree that those who love God keep His laws and are His children, for they proclaim, “Who are the blessed of God?  You children of God who love Him and seek God with all your hearts.  You who serve God and keep His sacred laws.”(35)   They also state, “Come, see such a righteous Father who gives good gifts to His small Earth children, and all He asks is your love and blessed obedience.”(36) 

                      Section 6 We are to Obey and Serve God

460           We are to please God.  This is our purpose in life.  As the messengers profoundly utter, “More than God’s favor, you cannot have.  Please Him, small ones of Earth; more you cannot do.  Bless and comfort, heal and serve on Earth, so that you may please your Creator forever.  This way is called, ‘blessed.’  Come and see.  More you cannot do.  More you cannot have.”(37)   Just as we hope to please the Lord, the one thing we are to fear is displeasing our God.  This is expressed concisely when the messengers write, “In this, understand: fear evil ways, but have no fear of God.  Fear offending Him with things that are of the bad one.”(38)

461           We will be pleasing to God and remain in God’s love by obeying His commandments, His laws.  This connection that Jesus makes according to the Gospel of John, has been noted.(39)   The messengers comment on the great joy that those who are obedient give to the Father: “Blessed ones are the great joy of God.  He is so thrilled that those who are on Earth are obeying His commands and living as He desires.”(40)   By keeping God’s commands, we stay connected to God, for they write, “This is the only way to God: keep His way in all things.  Keep His way while the Earth seeks not.”(41)   By obeying God’s commands we show that we are obedient children.  The messengers write, “These are His children.  They are good children who obey God.  They love Him and realize He has made rules for a purpose.”(42)

462           More than obeying God’s rules that apply to all, as children who have a relationship with God, we are to be obedient to God’s will that He has for each one of us.  One profound example of an obedient relationship, though imperfect, that is recorded in Scripture is the obedience of Abraham.  As the Catechism cites, “When God calls him, Abraham goes forth ‘as the Lord had told him’ <8> Abraham's heart is entirely submissive to the Word and so he obeys.”(43)   A second example of an obedient relationship is the perfect obedience of our Lord and savior, Jesus Christ.  The Catechism states, “Only Jesus can say: ‘I always do what is pleasing to him.’<100>  In the prayer of his agony, he consents totally to this will: ‘not my will, but yours be done.’<101>”(44)  

463           We are to strive to be obedient to God’s will, for as the messengers state, “Those who have been faithful and served God well are the children who love Him and all of His Creation.  They have been kind and obedient to God.  They have respected Him for His Kingship.”(45)   The messengers also write, “In such are the children kept, such blessed, kind children, always serving God with endless serving, so clean of heart, so blessed in all ways; in Earth’s toil, always blessing and forgiving as God wills, obedient, little spirits in all ways.”(46) 

464           Put quite simply, we are to serve our loving God.  In a proverb-like fashion, the messengers write, “People who come to God and serve Him well are wise.”(47)   The messengers, in an Old Testament prophet-like fashion, relay the words of the Lord in a profound statement: “Such kind, loyal children, serving God in such sorrow and weariness.  Serving a God they have never seen with the eyes.  Serving with a Spirit they have never seen, yet know is present.  In such pain, they serve.  Such weariness.  Such ignorance.  ‘These are My little ones who seek My love out of the darkness,’ saith the Lord. ‘Such very little ones are Mine, and I shall show them My mercy in such rest.’ Righteous ones, this is written in Heaven.”(48)

465           This servitude to God is to be done with total surrender and humility, opening ourselves up to do whatever the Lord wills, however He wills it to be done.  Another perfect example of servitude in the Scripture is the obedience of Mary, the mother of Jesus, for she proclaimed with her whole being, “Behold I am the handmaid of the Lord.  May it be done to me according to your word.”(49)   In similar fashion, the messengers encourage us to tell God “I offer you this small spirit of mine to do with as you please.”(50)  They encourage us also to “In all ways, accept His (God’s) will.”(51)   This acceptance of the Lord’s will is what the messengers see in the first Beatitude, “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the Kingdom of heaven.”(52)   The messengers write, ““Blessed are the poor in spirit, for they shall see God.  Who are the poor in spirit?  What does this mean?  Does it mean those who are humble are those who accept what God gives them without question?  How wise it is to be humble.  Blessed are the humble.”(53)  To please, serve, and obey God, and to be humbly open to the will of God is to be blessed.

                      Section 7 We are to Keep God First

466             We are to respect God and we do that by keeping Him first, above everything else, for He is above everything else in importance.  As the Catechism, in reflecting on the theological virtue of charity puts it, “Charity is the theological virtue by which we love God above all things for his own sake, and our neighbor as ourselves for the love of God.”(54)  The messengers write, “Mankind respects God by refraining from sin, believing in His precepts and loving Him above all things with their whole heart and soul.  This is respect and reverence to your God.”(55)  

467           We are to serve God above anything else.  The first commandment of the Ten Commandments states, “I, the LORD, am your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, that place of slavery.  You shall not have other gods besides me.”(56)   The Catechism writes that “Idolatry not only refers to false pagan worship. It remains a constant temptation to faith. Idolatry consists in divinizing what is not God. Man commits idolatry whenever he honors and reveres a creature in place of God, whether this be gods or demons (for example, Satanism), power, pleasure, race, ancestors, the state, money, etc. Jesus says, ‘You cannot serve God and mammon.’<44> … Idolatry rejects the unique Lordship of God; it is therefore incompatible with communion with God.<46>”(57)   The messengers' commentary on the commandment is “In this wisdom is the first commandment.  Serve God, and Him only serve.”(58)   This is also reflected in a prayer for us: “This is our prayer.  Rise up, O man of Earth, to God. Love Him above all else.”(59)  

468           While the holy pleasures of this world are a good thing to enjoy, for God made them, we are not to place them above God.  As the Catechism summarizes in its notes on the Beatitudes, “the Beatitudes confront us with decisive choices concerning Earthly goods; they purify our hearts in order to teach us to love God above all things.”(60)   The messengers agree with this need to discern God’s place as always primary: “You are right to seek Earth’s pleasures….Sing in God’s Spirit, and do not slip from His precepts.  Seek no pleasure above Him.”(61)

469           The supreme command of Jesus, combining the love of God and the love of neighbor, has been addressed in Chapter 5.(62)   The Catechism (above) also combines them when discussing the virtue of charity.  This primary command of the love of God and neighbor is at the heart of our faith.   The messengers simply comment that love of God and neighbor is what is required of us.  In a “gosh folks, this is simple” style of writing they state, “This is all that is required of you.  Keep His commandments, love God above all else, and love the rest of humankind as yourself.  What an easy task for little souls in God’s vast creation.  This is why you were put on the Earth.”(63)   While the task may not be as easy as they visualize, it is our task in life.

                      Section 8 We are to Pray 

470           The topic of prayer will be presented in much more detail in Chapter 13.  Our focus in this Chapter is on how are we to treat God.  So far, we have addressed the following duties:  We are to honor His name and take His gifts.  We are to know, love, obey and serve God.  We are to keep God first in our lives and have no other gods before Him. 

471           We are also obliged to pray to God.  According to the Gospels, Jesus prayed, told others to pray, and taught His disciples to pray.  The Catechism, citing Paul and tradition states, “Pray constantly . . . always and for everything giving thanks in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ to God the Father.’<33> St. Paul adds, ‘Pray at all times in the Spirit, with all prayer and supplication. To that end keep alert with all perseverance making supplication for all the saints.’<34> For ‘we have not been commanded to work, to keep watch and to fast constantly, but it has been laid down that we are to pray without ceasing.’<35>”(64)

472           In the book In God’s Love the words “reaching” and “song” are often used to mean prayer.(65)   I will let the three quotes from the book speak for themselves: “As His dear children, reach out to God.  Start such singing in Earth.  Speak to God.”(66)   “God is so pleased when you speak to Him.  This is more wisdom than all that is taught….Kindness is in speaking to the ones you love, so spare not your kind words.  God is close. While you speak, God listens.  God’s Spirit speaks to your heart….In God’s Spirit, stay not silent.”(67)   “Never stop reaching out to God.  In this reaching is life.”(68)   The Catholic Church believes prayer is crucial to our faith, our life, and so do the messengers.
 
                      Section 9 Summary
 
473           As in the previous Chapters, a vast number of the theological statements are the same as the Catholic Church and even expressed in the same manner.   We are to respect and bless God and bless and honor His Holy name, especially when others dishonor it.  We are to embrace God and accept His gifts and His blessings.  We are to take the Holy Spirit and the gifts of the Holy Spirit.  We are to know God with all our heart and mind, which means to have a deep relationship with Him that we cling to.  We are to love God with all of our heart, soul, mind and strength.  Christians love God.  Loving God and remaining in God’s love means obeying God’s commandments and God’s will for us, and accepting God’s will without question.  We are to please and serve God and fear displeasing Him.  While we should enjoy the pleasures of the world, we should place nothing above God and serve God above everything else.  We should love our neighbor.  We need to pray always and speak to God, for God listens to our prayers.

474           One could perhaps argue that some of the above could go in this next list or vice versa.  The following are theological and moral statements that agree with the Tradition of the Catholic Church, but things are expressed differently, or perhaps taken a little further than we have traveled with our doctrine.  There are basically four statements.  1) When we praise God’s name in response to disrespect of His name, God will bless us.  That is nice.  When we come to the defense of a friend when they are slandered, our friend would appreciate it.  Wouldn’t we think God would feel the same?  2) When we know God, have a deep relationship with Him, our actions affect others on the Earth.  We see this with all the saints.  Their lives change people.   3) The messengers hold God is pleased when you pray and this is more wisdom than all that is taught.  This is so.  If we teach our children, our youth, to pray, and the importance of prayer, then they are only one prayer away from reaching out to the one who can help them, guide them, and give them all they need.  4) Friends talk to one another, and that is the meaning of prayer.  These four thoughts are hardly radical: In fact, one could probably put any or all of them in the above category just as easily as they are placed here.  In summary, the love we are to have for God that is proclaimed in the tradition of the Scripture and the Church is echoed in the messages of In God’s Love. 

  The next section starts Part Two