Remaining in God's Love
- RONDA CHERVIN
That God is love is the firm belief of many people.
In a vague general way they affirm this, yet they do not expect him to manifest his love in any dynamic or intimate way. And they seem to have no great desire to want to know him more, to speak to him, or to make him a real part of their life experience. Imagine a young man who thinks he loves a girl, but fails to visit her and never even wants to; who never speaks to her or even about her.
Such a mixture of affirmation and negation also often underlies these questions so frequently addressed to religious people: "I do believe in God, but why do I have to believe that Christ was God?" "Why must I go to services in a building called a church? Can't I just talk to God when I feel like it and live my own life, trying to be as good as possible?"…
I have often thought that questions involving doubt about Christ and the Church are very much related to questions about love. Therefore, one of the best approaches to them is to delve into the nature of love and to show that many aspects of Catholicism…which a person may think are unnecessary encumbrances or even distortions, really follow directly from the one premise that God is love.
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Acknowledgement
Ronda Chervin. "Remaining in God's Love." from Church of Love (Liguori, Missouri: Liguori Publications, 1973).
Reprinted by permission of the author, Ronda Chervin. Church of Love is out of print.
This excerpt appeared in Magnificat.
The Author
Ronda Chervin teaches at Holy Apostles College and Seminary. She converted to the Catholic Faith from a Jewish, though atheistic, background. She is the author of some sixty books including Healing of Rejection with the Help of the Lord: A Survivor's Guide, Avoiding Bitterness in Suffering: How Our Heroes in Faith Found Peace Amid Sorrow, Catholic Realism: A Framework for the Refutation of Atheism and the Evangelization of Atheists, What The Saints Said About Heaven: 101 Holy Insights On Everlasting Life, and Holding Hands with God: Catholic Women Share Their Stories of Courage.
