Love Not Possible Without Faith

Love literally makes my living worthwhile. But, I can love only because I believe. I stand in awe at the majesty and grandeur of nature and I am overcome by the presence of a Creator I cannot fully know nor understand. I merely catch a glimpse of the God who has made all these things around me. My feeble mind cannot even start to comprehend who or what He is. I take everything else about Him in Faith. Believing in this Divine Presence I allow myself to be soaked in His love, grateful for the gift of life and existence. I believe and I realize how deeply I have been loved and only desire to love back in return.

I have loved special people in my life. These all started with an initial attraction where I caught a glimpse of the goodness, kindness, beauty, greatness or truth in them. I could not have known them perfectly for in our finiteness total revelation of self to others is difficult, if not well nigh impossible. I took everything else about them in Faith. Believing in their goodness and kindness and beauty and greatness and truth, I have made the decision to love them. This is the reason that I also believe that when a decision to love is made, it is always meant to be forever.

I have always nurtured a deep love for my country, the Philippines. It might be a miserable place to live in, “the gateway to hell” in the words of Dan Brown. But it is in this country that I first caught a glimpse of and eventually learned about what is good, true and beautiful. I am proud to have been part of the historic EDSA revolution where my Faith in the Filipino and the Philippines found its justification. And I was so overwhelmed by love for my country during those days. And today, I join millions of my countrymen as they gather together and march for a moral regeneration of our soul as a people from the corruption and the poverty that it has spawned. I can love the Philippines only because of my deep Faith in her.

What makes life worth living? It is love. Who will be saved? Only those who have known the Lord. In Faith. Love and Faith, they go together. “Whoever claims to love God yet hates a brother or sister is a liar. For whoever does not love their brother and sister, whom they have seen, cannot love God, whom they have not seen.” (1 John 4:20)

Someone asked him, ‘Lord, will only a few be saved?’ He said to them, ‘Strive to enter through the narrow door; for many, I tell you, will try to enter and will not be able. When once the owner of the house has got up and shut the door, and you begin to stand outside and to knock at the door, saying, “Lord, open to us”, then in reply he will say to you, “I do not know where you come from.”
Luke 13:22-30