In the first reading today, St. John says, “God is love. The one who lives in love, lives in God and God in him.” 1 John 4: 16. St, John’s letter also speaks of God’s perfect love and how it casts out all fear. Psychologists have said there are more than100 types of fears – ranging from the fear of cockroaches to the greatest fear of dying. But when we spend more time in deep contempla¬tion with the Lord for about one hour in the morning, we enter into a deeper experience of God’s love along with the amazing grace to seek and do His will in all things and everywhere. Bible scholars say God’s love has many qualities, the most important being that His perfect love is unending, unfailing, unlimited and unmerited.

When we grow in the desire to seek and do God’s will, the Lord Jesus says in the beatitudes that we will have a pure heart without secret agendas or motives. Matthew 5:8. When we have a pure heart, God will give us inner revelations and insights so that we would be creative and imaginative in what we do.

Freely as we receive this, ever merciful, compassionate and ever forgiving love through the Holy Spirit, we are empowered by the Spirit to freely give it to others as we sing in that beautiful hymn, “Freely freely you have received, freely, freely give, go in my name and be¬cause you believe, others will know that I live; all power is given in Jesus’ name on earth and heaven in Jesus’ name and in Jesus name I come to you to share His love as He told me to.

In today’s Gospel proclamation, we read the widely quoted story of how the Lord Jesus walked on water and calmed the storm when the apostles feared their boat would captize in the storm. When they saw the Lord, walking on the water, some feared it was a ghost but the Lord said, “Fear not, it is I” Bible scholars say that in the Gospel there are more than 300 ocassions where our Lord Jesus says Fear not or Be not afraid. As we sing, “Even if you walk through raging waters or through blazing fires, fear not for I go through it with you and in you.”

Prayer: Abba Father, love changes everything. Give me the power of the Holy Spirit to obey the Lord’s final commandment “Love one another as I love you”. Amen