Let Me Love You

A Reflection on the Gospel for March 14th, 2021:
Fourth Sunday of Lent

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​John
3.14-21

Jesus said to Nicodemus: “Just as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whoever believes in him may have eternal life. For God so loved the world that he gave his only-begotten Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal life.

“Indeed, God did not send the Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him. The one who believes in him is not condemned; but the one who does not believe is condemned already, for not having believed in the name of the only-begotten Son of God.

“And this is the judgment, that the light has come into the world, and people loved darkness rather than light because their deeds were evil. For all who do evil hate the light and do not come to the light, so that their deeds may not be exposed. But those who do what is true come to the light, so that it may be clearly seen that their deeds have been done in God.”
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Pause. Pray.

And then read more...

Let me love you.

No, this isn’t a line from a cheesy romance novel or Hallmark movie. Rather, these are the words I heard as I rocked in an old rocking chair, in the middle of a retreat centre in rural Ontario. A few years ago, during an eight day silent retreat, I heard so clearly and so strongly, God saying to me: “Let me love you.”

As I wiped away the tears I hadn’t quite realized had started falling down my cheeks, I was so overwhelmed to hear God ask for my permission to let Him love me. Often I forget that God doesn’t come into my life  like a bull in a china shop. As John says, “God did not send the Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him.”

God doesn’t impose, He proposes. And what God proposes to me is a relationship with Him based on love. Not the romance book or Hallmark movie kind of love, but rather a love that wills beauty, goodness, and truth. Not only does God propose this love, He shows it by sending His Son, His only Son, into the world so that humankind will know this kind of love, be transformed by it, and most importantly, share it.

And how well have we done with that? Meh. Some days we do really well in the love department. Other days make you wonder if some humans even know what love is! Since the aforementioned retreat, I vowed to make time for silence in my noise-filled life. In the silence I can hear God’s voice. But the danger is, in that silence, my own voice creeps in. The one that lists all the things that make me selfish, self centred, not enough; the laundry list of all the things that in my mind deem me unworthy of God’s love. But God constantly battles that voice by reminding me of all that I am, because of all that He is. The darkness of life can try to dim the light God placed in me but it will not extinguish it. Even on my darkest days, when I’m not sure where my faith is or what my faith is about, God has faith in me.

Yet God will never force His love on me. God will offer it and wait for me to receive and accept it. I know this because I have come to know God through His Son. And it is through Christ that God’s love is revealed to all. God is always asking me to let Him love me through people and experiences, through blessings and challenges. In all the ins and outs of my life, I must recognize and know that I am loved if I am to show that love to others. It’s not always easy. God never said it would be. All God asks is that I let Him love me.




​Aurea Sadi
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