He never abandons us, and is always ready to forgive our sins and heal all
One of my greatest desires in life is to yearn for God’s love and to love Him in return. This has been one of the reasons why I’ve always wanted to be a priest since I was a teenager in Vietnam.
I’d like to share a personal experience that happened to me last year.
On that day, 21 May, around 2.00pm, I left my office and went over to the chapel of St Thomas More College to get the Monstrance (The golden sacred vessel that is used to display the Blessed Sacrament during Eucharistic Adorations).
After locating it in the sacristy, I opened the Lectionary and read a passage from the Gospel of John 17: 20-26 to prepare my homily for Mass the next day at the University of Western Australia. I’ll quote the full text of that verse:
I ask not only on behalf of these, but also on behalf of those who will believe in me through their word, that they may all be one. As you, Father, are in me and I am in you, may they also be in us, so that the world may believe that you have sent me. The glory that you have given me I have given them, so that they may be one, as we are one,I in them and you in me, that they may become completely one, so that the world may know that you have sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me.Father, I desire that those also, whom you have given me, may be with me where I am, to see my glory, which you have given me because you loved me before the foundation of the world.
Righteous Father, the world does not know you, but I know you; and these know that you have sent me.I made your name known to them, and I will make it known, so that the love with which you have loved me may be in them, and I in them.
I then sat in the chapel and reflected on this Gospel passage. After some time in prayer, I felt deeply – at my very core – the unconditional love that God has enfolded me in the past 60 years of my life: from the moment I was born, my childhood and adolescent years, to my entry into religious formation in the Redemptorist Congregation, ordination and my life as a priest.
The six decades of my existence have been marked countless times with the seal of God’s love, through all important milestones and challenges in my journey as His disciple. His love follows and remains with me unceasingly, even in my human weaknesses: when my love for Him runs dry and lukewarm, or in moments when I haven’t been my best self or lived up to what is expected of me.
God doesn’t abandon me, but continues to love me still and ever ready to forgive my flaws, heal my wounds, and embrace me back into a loving relationship with Him. To be honest, it is impossible for me to count each of God’s blessings in my life, for they are innumerable. I simply recall and engrave them in my heart, so that I will never forget what He has done for me.
In reading John’s Gospel that afternoon in the chapel, I was again touched by his immense love, especially this line,
I in them and you in me, that they may become completely one, so that the world may know that you have sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me.
John 17:23
I came to a deeper understanding that God’s love for humanity, which includes you and I, is manifested in the love that He has shown for His only Son, Our Lord Jesus Christ. As I meditated on this, I felt so blessed and fortunate that God the Father loves me with the very same love that He has for His only Son. Upon realising this, I immediately felt a force enfolding my entire body, as if it wants to protect and shield me. It actualised within me a deep sense of joy and serene peace.
As the French writer, Victor Hugo once said, “The greatest happiness of life is the conviction that we are loved, loved for ourselves, or rather loved in spite of ourselves.”
Everyone desires happiness and to be loved, for no one is able to truly live without (or lacking) love. A person who doesn’t love (or be loved) may be physically alive, but spiritually dead.
This is why I truly felt so blessed, for I have at least more than once in my life, experienced God’s immense and everlasting love. It is from this same love that motivated me to respond to His invitation to be His disciple by sharing in the gift of His priesthood, which I have received 27 years ago in 1994.
I continued to silently sit there in the Chapel before the Blessed Sacrament and savoured the sweetness of His unconditional love for me in spite of my unworthiness.
It is also this same love that compels me to give of myself each day in the proclamation of the Gospel – the Good News that God loves humanity and desires to save us all.
Christ desires for us to be with him in His heavenly kingdom, imploring His Heavenly Father,
Father, I desire that those also, whom you have given me, may be with me where I am, to see my glory, which you have given me because you loved me before the foundation of the world.
John 17:24
I am always convinced that after our earthly journey, we will all be reunited with Christ, our most venerable and compassionate Master/Teacher, in our heavenly kingdom, where we will be able to see the Glory of God, to gaze at Him face to face and share in His everlasting joy and eternal happiness.
I’d like to share with you this special spiritual experience in order to give thanks to God for His great love for me and the many blessings He has continuously been giving me in my life. I will never forget His unfathomable love for me. All I want to do is to give my entire life to Him and to love God and His people with all my heart.
Main Image: Heinrich Hofmann
