The "Pulmonary Artery" of God

When it comes to relating to those around us, how does this “love thing” work? Divine love, agape, alone can sustain your relationship to those around you in the world – not “philia” or brotherly love, not “eros” or romantic love.

We love God by loving our neighbor, and we can love our neighbor only as we love God. The two commandments form a seamless robe of righteousness.

When we try to love our neighbor without loving God, we begin imposing our human desires onto the relationship, which in the end destroys it. Unaided human love loves others for its own sake, while agape LOVES OTHERS FOR GOD’S SAKE. Human love reaches out expecting a return, in fact often demanding a return. Agape, in contrast, gives, expecting nothing in return.

When we try to love God without loving our neighbor, we cut ourselves off from the “pulmonary artery” of God. The flow of love, like the flow of blood within the human body, must be constantly recharged as the blood is constantly re-oxygenated by the lungs. It is how we breathe – and it is how God “breathes”.

Blood has to flow to function – without flow and re-oxygenating, stagnation and even clotting occurs. Therefore if the pulmonary artery of God’s love is to function, we will of necessity be drawn to those in the world around us. We then see the face of God in our neighbor, and to neglect our neighbor is to neglect God.

If we forget our neighbor in our zeal to love God, we will soon stagnate or even clot in our relationship with God. It is only through the royal flow of agape love that our deeds of compassion and mercy become a blessing. Without it, try as we might to do otherwise, our serving will always be tinged with condescending arrogance. Saint Vincent de Paul, always conscious of the poor, said, “It is only because of your love – YOUR GODLY LOVE – that the poor will forgive you for the bread you give them.”

As we have fellowship with the Spirit of Christ within us, we are drawn into the love of God, which irresistibly leads us to our neighbor. When we try to love our neighbor, we discover our utter inability to do so, which irresistibly drives us back to God. And so we enter into that great Circle of Agape Love.
1 John 4:8 & 16 says that “God IS love”. “Love” is not something God has to give to us – it is something HE IS WITHIN US, to flow, to be recharged, and to flow again.

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