I found it very fitting, as I was reflecting upon today’s gospel, that the idea of remaining in God is connected with the idea of loving God and being loved by God. The more we strive to remain in God the more we begin to love God. The two can not be separated from each other. We can not remain in God and not love God as well as we can not not remain in God and love God. These two go together! We must both love God and remain in God.
Look back through your own life. The more that you begin to recognize your love for God, the more, I am sure, that you will begin to recognize how you remain in God, especially in daily unceasing prayer. Our love for God and our remaining in God go together.
How can we deepen our love for God and our desire to remain in God?
We can first deepen our love for God by seeking to love others through acts of charity. Charity is seen as a virtue in which we love God above all things for who God is and we love our neighbors as ourselves for God. So, we can deepen our love for God by working on loving our neighbors. Each of us, I am sure, will be able to find different neighbors to love and by making a conscious effort to love them through an act of Charity, our love for God will increase.
We can deepen our desire to remain in God through prayer. Prayer is the constant conversation with God. We can pray unceasingly throughout the day by using the different situations we experience to help us enter into prayer. When we encounter a homeless person, we can enter into prayer by praying for them. When we sit down for a meal, we can enter into prayer by praying grace before meals. When we go for a walk, we can enter into prayer by thanking God for the beauty of the earth that we are observing during our walk. No matter what motivates us to pray, our prayer is an act of remaining in God.
So, this week, as we continue to desire to draw closer to God and prepare for the coming of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost, remain in Him, and love Him, find ways to consciously perform an act of Charity for a neighbor motivated by your love of God and find a way to pray constantly this week without ceasing.
