God always takes the initiative

This truth of our faith should console us. In our relation with God, on which depends also our relation with others, it is God who makes the first move before we do our part.

Ours is only to correspond to his tremendous love that knows no bounds, a love that is full of mercy – mercy being the summary of all his wisdom and power insofar as we are concerned.

We should do away with our ignorance or any doubt with respect to this truth, and try our best to live by it as fully as possible. That way, we relieve ourselves with unnecessary burden and focus more on what we are supposed to do, that is, to love and to serve God and everyone else.

St. John in his first letter described this point very well. "There is no fear in love, but perfect love drives out fear, because fear involves punishment. The one who fears has not been perfected in love. We love because He (God) first loved us." (4,18-19)

This truth was lived to the full by Christ himself. With his passion, death, and resurrection, he has offered us forgiveness of our sins even before we can ask for forgiveness.

And in his post-resurrection appearances to his disciples, he would always greet them with peace. He likes to reassure them, avoiding as much as possible to startle them. In that story about the two men on their way to Emmaus, he did not immediately make himself known but blended with them in a friendly conversation.

This is how God treats each one of us. He does it with full tenderness and compassion. We have no reason to be afraid or to be anxious. In fact, in those instances when Christ would appear to his disciples in an extraordinary way, as when he was seen walking on the water, he would reassure them by saying, "Do not be afraid. It is I."

With all this divine goodness, we on our part should be quick to recognize God in all the circumstances and situations of our life. Let us make certain adjustments in the way we see, perceive and understand things to accommodate this wonderful truth of our faith.

Let's give ample space in our consciousness to this truth of our faith. We should try to feel God's constant presence, nay, his abiding love and mercy for us. And this can mean taking care of our spiritual faculties, that is, our intellect and will, cueing or prompting them to this wonderful reality.

Yes, it is important that we make many acts of faith during the day, and make use of any human devices that can help and reinforce this awareness of God's constant presence and love for us.

We can, for example, associate certain things or actions or events with some acts of piety. Like, every time we open and close a door, climb up or down the stairs, see a blue or white car, etc., etc., we can make some act of faith, hope and charity.

We need to learn these skills if only to avoid failing to correspond to God's tremendous love for us every day. We have to learn to find Christ in the little things which comprise most of our day, if not of our whole life.

We need to be more aware of this reality about ourselves, since we often do not realize it, dominated as we are with the merely material and sensible realities and with what is the here-and-now and what is immediately felt. We many times fail to go beyond this level.

God is in everything. He is behind all events in our life. We need to be constantly aware of this truth in order to have peace and joy whatever the circumstances, and poised to do good only and always.