Lenten campaign 2026
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As many of us were taught in the Baltimore Catechism, "God made me to know Him, to love Him, and to serve Him in this world, and to be happy with Him for ever in heaven."
Except, what does it mean to "love" God? How, precisely, do you do that?
While we certainly can perform "acts of love," such as praying to God, or loving our neighbor, that does not mean we truly love God. It's similar to how we can do all kinds of acts of service for someone, but in the end, we could be doing those things for motives other than love.
In other words, exterior acts don't always equal love.
A gift from God
St. Basil the Great explains in his Detailed Rules for Monks how the ability to love God is not something we can learn, but rather a gift from God:
Love of God is not something that we can be taught. We did not learn from someone else how to rejoice in light or want to live, or to love our parents or guardians. It is the same, perhaps even more so, with our love for God: it does not come by another’s teaching. As soon as the living creature (that is, man) comes to be, a power of reason is implanted in us like a seed, containing within it the ability and the need to love. When the school of God’s law admits this power of reason, it cultivates it diligently, skillfully nurtures it, and with God’s help brings it to perfection.
He further explains, "Since we received a command to love God, we possess from the first moment of our existence an innate power and ability to love. The proof of this is not to be sought outside ourselves, but each one can learn this from himself and in himself."
A choice
Essentially what St. Basil is saying is that we have everything we need to love God. We don't have to go to school, or read any books. What we really need to do is perform an act of the will and choose to love God.
We certainly can and should perform acts of love, loving our neighbor through the variety of ways we can express our love.
At the same time, we need to first love God with the love he has given us. As the Catechism of the Catholic Church explains, ""God is Love" and love is his first gift, containing all others. "God's love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us" (CCC 733).
If you feel you struggle in your own love of God, the best person to turn to is God himself. He alone can foster within us the love we need to have and show us the way to express it.
