Participating in Holy Love

The LORD spoke to Moses, saying: Speak to all the congregation of the people of Israel and say to them: You shall be holy, for I the LORD your God am holy. You shall not render an unjust judgment; you shall not be partial to the poor or defer to the great: with justice you shall judge your neighbor. You shall not go around as a slanderer among your people, and you shall not profit by the blood of your neighbor: I am the LORD. You shall not hate in your heart anyone of your kin; you shall reprove your neighbor, or you will incur guilt yourself. You shall not take vengeance or bear a grudge against any of your people, but you shall love your neighbor as yourself: I am the LORD.

Leviticus 19:1-2, 15-18

This is the Word of God.
Thanks be to God!

By participating in communion with one another, we actually participate in communion with God, because God is not lacking in any regard in being ever oriented in the posture we call Love. As such, God is the source of the Love shown by God's people: the People of God love because God is the LORD: the holy, ever-faithful covenant One who enters into relationship with God's people, making them holy.

The Latin text, Ubi Caritas comes to mind. Here is a beautiful musical setting by Ola Gjeilo, superbly interpreted by Charles Bruffy, conducting the Phoenix Chorale:

Here is the Latin text and an English translation:

Ubi caritas et amor, Deus ibi est.

      Where charity and love are, God is there.

congregavit nos in unum Christi amor.

       The love of Christ has gathered us together.

Exultemos et in ipso juncundemur

        Let us rejoice and be glad in it.

Timeamus et amemus Deum Vivum.

         Let us revere and love the living God.

Et ex corde dilagamus nos sincero.

         And from a sincere heart let us love one another.

Amen.

         Amen.

Perhaps you could read the Latin text as saying that wherever you see expressions of what we call love, then those expressions must be from God. Or whenever we feel attraction to other persons, then however we act on that attraction--what many people call love--is a True expression of Love, is godly, and healthy.

I think this interpretation is faulty. Or at least it falsely equates Love with desire and acting on desire in and of themselves as Love. I think the Truer meaning of the text is that charity and love are the signals of God’s presence, the source of True Charity and Love. Love is not an emotion. God's essence can be described as being Love, and we embody the Love of God as God moves in and through us to Love God and Love each other truly, for the glory of God.

Congregavit nos in unum…

We do not come together to make love, but rather, Christ has called us together—regardless of our differences and misunderstandings—with His love. And we are to rejoice and be glad in this gathering, this Love that is outside ourselves and calls us outside of our selves. And when we rejoice in this true Love, this God, we cannot but revere and love this Love, our Living God, who creates in us a sincere heart from which we can truly participate in the Love of Christ, by the Spirit’s power, one to another, as this Love—bigger than us and bigger than our particular culture and our false definitions of love—gathers us together into God’s Self of Love.

I would ask your forgiveness for my inability to describe someone as ineffable as God, but that would be silly.  Could my writing be better? Yes, absolutely. We'll have to see if any future editing I do of this post actually gets any closer to approximately refering to reality, but until then, I pray I've gotten as close as I can at this moment.

God, draw us into Yourself and for Yourself.
Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

Amen.