I pray you are well and that you are taking a moment for God this week. I hope that you are taking a moment in your busy lives to remember God's deep love for you and for all of creation, and the lengths to which God is willing to go to reveal that love, even to death on a cross.

I've been thinking and writing a good bit over this Lenten season about finding ways to live into the first commandment, the commandment about loving God with all that we are. It's a challenge for most of us as we try and imagine who it is we are loving. I, for one, struggle with finding ways to show that love. I sometimes remember to spend time with God like a friend, talking or singing to Him or simply being quiet in the hope that God is present with me. I have begun a practice of actually telling God in words or in my head that I love Him and thank Him for my life and all that He is doing in my life and yours. I'm sure God knows that we love Him, but I am finding it helpful to be open with God and artlessly tell Him.

God is much more adept at revealing His love for us. We can look at the creation around us and have a sense that God is showing love. We can give thanks for the life we have been given and even though it comes with trials, the gift of life is thrilling and challenging and is a sign of God's great love for us. We can look at the cross, as we are this week. We can look at the cross and see that God wants us to know through all time that He loves us, that He forgives us for all, and that He wants us now and always. God is love, St. John writes, and will go to any length to let us know that.

I pray for all of us in this Holy Week that we can grasp for the first time or grasp anew that promise of God's great love for us. And though we can never fully understand what's going on with Jesus' death and resurrection, there is one thing we do know: we know that God loves us, however close or far we may be from Him at various points in our lives. We know that God loves us and it's more than safe to love Him in return.