But God proves his love for us in that while we still were sinners Christ died for us. – Romans 5:8

The most important thing you can say about God; love is that God loves us not because of anything we’ve done to earn that love, but because God, in total freedom, has decided to love us. (Letters to Marc About Jesus)

What is the goal of the moral life? Why do we try to do the “right thing”? Perhaps more commonly, why do we try to do the “right thing”? Perhaps more commonly, why do we try hard to avoid doing “bad things”? Often-times people might say, “I act this way to get to Heaven when I die.” Leaving aside whether that is really sufficient motive for moral living, there is an important truth here that we easily forget: NOTHING WE EVER DO WILL EARN US A PLACE WITH CHRIST FOR ETERNITY. Similarly, no act will ever cut us from his forgiveness if we ask for it.

God loves us simply because we are. He comes to us in the Incarnation to show us how much he loves us. In turn, our response to the moral life, to the question “why do you live the way you do?” should always be, “because God loved me first.” Thank you Lord for loving us first!

Amen