You are loved before you do any good.

   Like a newborn in the arms of his mother, you are loved before you can do any good.  Indeed, like the newborn, we tend to make a mess of things without seeming to have any control.  A mother does not stop loving her child when a diaper needs to be changed.  Our Father does not stop loving us when we make a mess of things when we sin.

   Too often, we think that we need to be worthy of God’s love by what we do.  We think that is why God so loved the saints in Heaven.  WRONG!  God loves the saints in Heaven and all of those in purgatory and all of us on earth as well.  The saints are in Heaven because of their love for God.  Sure, their love for God might have impelled them to action (what love does not come with action), but it was not their actions/works that merited Heaven for them, but their love for/faith in God.

   You and I do not need to be perfect to be loved.  We never were perfect and never will be on our own.  But God can perfect us.  When we unite ourselves to Him, especially in our sufferings, we are working to rid ourselves of our imperfections.  We are removing our selfishness and replacing it with pure Love, which is God Himself.  And by this, we are made more perfect.  Our every action starts to bend to God, our true end.

   We are loved before we start our way to perfection, like a newborn.  A mother does not stop loving their child just because they grow up.  A mother loves her child, because her child is a part of her.  Indeed, we are made in the image and likeness of God.  We have the divine spark within us.  In us, God sees a piece of Himself.  And in you, He sees a piece of Himself that no one else is or ever can be.  He sees and loves you.  Will you choose to be loved by Him and love Him in return?

   Jesus, You are the Eternal Son in Whom we have become sons and daughters of God.  Help us to accept being loved by Our Father and to love Him in all things, so that we might enter into Eternal Paradise with You, Our Father, the Holy Spirit, and all of the saints and angels!  Amen.