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WEDNESDAY, EIGHTEENTH WEEK IN ORDINARY TIME<\/strong><\/p>\r\n \u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\r\n Jer 31: 1-7\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Jer 31: 10-13\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Mt 15: 21-28<\/strong><\/p>\r\n \u00a0<\/p>\r\n WE ARE ALREADY LOVED <\/strong><\/p>\r\n \u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\r\n Jeremiah\u2019s prophecy contains some of the most tender words in all of Scripture: \u201cI have loved you with an everlasting love…\u201d Here is the foundation of all spirituality \u2013 not our love for God, but God\u2019s eternal, unchanging love for us. Before we ever thought to seek God, God was seeking us. Before we ever loved, we were loved with an \u201ceverlasting love.\u201d Our spiritual journey is not about earning God\u2019s affection or achieving a level of holiness that finally makes us worthy of divine attention. Rather, it is about awakening to a love that has always been there, waiting for us to notice, to receive, to rest in it. Teresa of Avila insisted: God does not wait for us to become perfect before drawing close. God\u2019s love is the very thing that makes our transformation possible inviting us into a profound, lifelong intimacy with the Divine.<\/p>\r\n \u00a0<\/p>\r\n Jeremiah describes the exiles returning to Jerusalem. Notice who makes this journey: not the strong and capable, but the weak and vulnerable. We do not come to God as spiritual athletes displaying our achievements. We come as the blind who need to be led, as the lame who cannot walk without support, as those who weep because the journey is hard and we are weak. St Th\u00e9r\u00e8se of Lisieux called this the \u2018little way.\u2019 She recognized her own spiritual poverty, her inability to perform great penances or achieve mystical heights through her own effort. But she discovered that this very weakness was her strength, because it made her completely dependent on God\u2019s mercy. Like the exiles in Jeremiah, she needed to be carried, guided, consoled; and God delighted to do so.<\/p>\r\n \u00a0<\/p>\r\n God\u2019s love is not a reward for the worthy but a gift for the needy. It is everlasting, which means it predates our sins and failures, and no amount of stumbling can exhaust it. We are already loved, already sought, already held in the heart of God. Let us humbly awaken to that transformative love today and learn to live fully in it forever.<\/p>\r\n \u00a0<\/p>\r\n \r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n<\/p>\r\n \r\n\r\n<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\r\n Response: The Lord will keep us, as a shepherd keeps his flock. \u00a0<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\r\n \r\n\r\n<\/p>\r\n Copyright \u00a92026 \u00a9Springs of Living Water\u00a0 http:\/\/springs.carmelmedia.in<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" WEDNESDAY, EIGHTEENTH WEEK IN ORDINARY TIME \u00a0 Jer 31: 1-7\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Jer 31: 10-13\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Mt 15: 21-28 \u00a0 WE ARE ALREADY LOVED \u00a0 Jeremiah\u2019s prophecy contains some of the most tender words in all of Scripture: \u201cI have loved you with an everlasting love…\u201d Here is the foundation of all spirituality \u2013 not our love for … <\/p>\n
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