What is the Good that God wants to Give Us?

First, I want to make it clear that of all the issues I write about, almost none are original thoughts because I’m sure someone wrote and/or thought about, the same issues before me. I will certainly give proper credit when I know the source, otherwise it must be assumed that someone prior to me has, in one way or other “spoken” the same words and thoughts. I mostly rephrase them.
Having said that, I do want to discuss a topic which I am convinced is of the utmost importance, especially during these times of much confusion and “new” ideas. 
We all know the story of the Exodus and Moses and how he was asked by God to go back to Egypt and set the Israelites free—we repeat the story every Easter season- the Egyptians and the Israelites, the seven plagues, the freeing of the Israelites …etc.

Then while in the dessert, Moses was led up to Mount Sinai…he left the Israelites below with his brother Aaron to watch over them—What happened on Mt. Sinai? God gives Moses the 10 COMMANDMENTS (Ex. 20:1-17) and (Dt. 5:1-21).

We’ve heard these commandments, we’ve all learned them—they are still valid today—we still teach them and we are still obliged to follow them—not because the Church tells us to, but because GOD TELLS US TO!

Fast forward to the New Testament…Jesus, the 2nd person of the Blessed Trinity—GOD—the SAME GOD from the Old testament, the Same God who gave Moses the 10 commandments. Jesus comes down, takes on human flesh, becomes one of us, a mere man…a human being… Why? Well for several reasons… But I want to look at a reason that we don’t hear about very often…

What did Jesus do while on earth? Well, for one thing He reinforced the Lord’s 10 commandments—but He did it in a way that would be less distracting, less cumbersome, less overwhelming so to speak… He did it by summarizing everything He taught his people from Abraham and Moses and the Israelites in the Old Testament to the Pharisees and Scribes and the people in the New Testament to every person that has lived and will ever live, He did it in ONE WORD…A word that sadly has been mostly misunderstood and misused, misinterpreted and distorted. A word that speaks to every human being, every one of us in every language and, translated means the same thing…that word is LOVE!

In English we have one word “love”, to mean all kinds of love. I love ice cream; I love my house, my dog, my kids, my spouse, etc. The past few years there has been and continues to be grave misunderstandings of what Love is and what it consist of.  We see signs that say “Love is Love.” But is it? No, it’s not all the same!

In Italian, we have at least two separate words/phrases to distinguish the type of love we mean. The first is “TI AMO”. This is the term used for Romantic Love. We would not say to our sister, or child, “Ti Amo”… No, we’d say that to our spouse, or our fiancée. What we would say to our kids, our siblings and our friends is, and yes, to our spouse and fiancé as well is, “TI VOGLIO BENE!” Literally  this phrase means I WANT GOOD FOR YOU! 

What is the GOOD that we want for them? It is that of helping them get to Heaven! It is a Good that means, “I want you to have eternal life!” It is a Good that says I wish to help you to make the right decisions for your salvation so even if  I have to deny myself something good, I’ll sacrifice my pleasure for Your good! it says, “Even if I have to suffer pain or discomfort or hurt etc. if it’s good for you, then I’ll do it!”  This love, this “TI VOGLIO BENE” kind of love is the love that Jesus came to give us. And this is the kind of Love God has for us! Jesus came down to earth, became a small, an insignificant human being, to show us how much God loves us…. God tells us what to do and how to live. Jesus tells us what to do and  how to live! The Holy Spirit tells us what to do and how to live!

We are told over and over again in many ways.
We are shown by God himself how to live and how to love!

Let’s look at the Gospel of John, 15:12-17…Jesus tells us, “…This is my commandment: Love one another as I have loved you. There is no greater love than this, to give one’s life for his friends; and you are my friends if you do what I command. I do not call you servants anymore, because servants do not know what their master is about. Instead, I have called you friends, since I have made known to you EVERYTHING I learned from my Father…You did not choose me, I chose you and send you to go and bear fruit, fruit that will last.…this is my command that you love one another.”

Yes, God tells us we must love one another as He loves us. But HOW did Jesus Love us? He has, and still does. God loves us? 
He loved us to the END—He loved us by giving His life for us; by giving us the ultimate example and sacrifice, so we can go to Heaven and LIVE with Him forever!
We have our Marching Orders….GO, “LOVE ONE ANOTHER!