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Undying Love - For everyone
We can talk realistically about undying love only if we believe that love does not come to an end. God, who is Love, certainly does not come to an end. However, we can see the same endlessness of love in some of our own experiences including the death of a loved one. We do not stop loving at that moment even if we do not at first recognize the pain of loss as a sure indication of ongoing love. Over time, the pain might diminish, and we might become less and less aware of the continuance of our love. But that love is not just ours, for it also abides in the other person who did not just die and disappear but has been joined to God’s eternal love and continues to love us.
The Easter story supports our reflections upon the undying aspect of love when we let ourselves be present to the mysterious revelation of God’s love that alone make sense of the immeasurable injustice of Jesus’ suffering and death. There is no human logic that can support the concept of eternal love that transcends the absolute unfairness of what was done to the one who loved and still loves us all, but our own capacity to love undyingly literally arises with Jesus after his death by crucifixion. Only God could make this kind of victory from such an apparent defeat, but Love does not come to an end for God, and now, not for us either.
Even if our minds cannot comprehend the relationship with Jesus’ love and the removal of death as the barrier to our own capacity to love, we can appreciate our common practice of praying for those who have died. It is an act of loving kindness, even if we cannot see or sense any results while we are doing so. Although living people might express gratitude if we let them know that we pray for them and their concerns, we do not depend upon their positive feedback to validate our kind intentions. In a like manner, we do not depend upon perceived words from loved ones and revered holy ones who have died, to accept that they love us. When we pray for others, we are comfortable with such a manner of caring. As we accept that those who have passed through death to a fuller way of being present with God care for us, we can also rightly take comfort.
Although some careful reasoning may help us with our belief that love does not come to an end, the most effective learning is from the experience of taking time to prayerfully ponder, and let ourselves be present in, one or more of the Resurrection stories in the Gospels. Jesus himself will gladly illumine more brightly the gift of undying love that he gained for us when he rose from the dead. We can ask for this grace, and we will surely receive it.
Last Updated 4/19/2025