Awaken Love: The 2023 Prayer Pledge // Day 11

Most of us have seen some romantic comedies—whether as teenagers, in our hopeless college years, or perhaps even later on in life. Who doesn’t like a good, sappy romance movie during the Christmas season? As women, one of our deepest longings is to be pursued and to be loved and these movies stir up those exact desires.

We may easily look to others to fulfill this expectation of “lover” while hesitating to see the Lord in this way. Maybe it is because we do not often get the butterflies-in-my-stomach kind of feeling when we go to Adoration or sit in silence to pray. Yet the truth is that, as a baptized person, I have become part of the Church, His Bride. If Christ, then, is our Bridegroom, the Lover par excellence, should I not seek to see Him as such?

What does it mean to be a lover—a true one, not just the fabricated fantasy we find in novels or movie scripts? In the letter to the Ephesians, when instructing husbands and wives on how to be lovers to one another, Saint Paul tells them to do so in imitation of Christ (Ephesians 5:25). Jesus, the Lover of souls, (see Wisdom 11:26) expresses His love for the Church by giving His life for her and to her. He nourishes His bride and cherishes her (see Ephesians 5:29).

 A true lover does not grow weary—even when we have grown cold in our devotion or tired in loving. Christ pursues us since He has won our hearts for Himself through His Incarnation, Passion, Death, and Resurrection. We are rightly His and yet He honors our will and comes daily as a beggar for our love.

 As members of the Church, sister, you and I are called to respond to the Lord in His request for love. As Christ is a Lover, we too are called to be lovers of Christ. We are called to pursue, cherish, and nourish Him as He has done for us. 

What does it mean to be a lover—a true one, not just the fabricated fantasy we find in novels or movie scripts? #BISblog #prayerpledge // -->> CLICK TO TWEET

 

Let Us Pray

Lord, with what holy devotion we would burn for You if we truly allowed ourselves to be conquered by You. You are the Greatest of Lovers and so we pray humbly, that You would reveal more of Your love to us today that we might long for You and seek to be Yours all of our days.

For Discussion

Do you struggle to see the Lord as a Bridegroom or Lover? Why do you think that is?

How can you begin today to foster an understanding of yourself as bride, called to love the Lord with your whole heart? Perhaps by repeating a short prayer or tender word to the Lord or writing a letter to Him from your heart?