“You are loved”

You may have seen the new euphemisms about love such as, “You are loved” and “Love is love”.

But the truth is, there can be no love without God Who is love, and the Source of all love.

And authentic love also cannot be truly given when God is omitted from the occasion.

This is because love cannot be reduced to mere sentiment or feelings. It is all encompassing, and therefore cannot be made subject to anything.

St. Thomas Aquinas said love is willing the good of the other for the sake of the other (see Summa Theologiae, Q. 20, A. 1., R. 3, https://www.newadvent.org/summa/1020.htm).

So what is the ultimate “good” one can want for another?

God.

Anything that pulls one away from God then is a lack of goodness.

It is lesser. It is deficient. It is sin.

“You will know them by their fruits.” Mt 7:16

God spoke through the prophet Isaiah, chastising the Israelites when they regarded “good evil and evil good” (Isa 5:20).

So how does the Christian recognize someone who is loving from someone who is pretending to be, but not?

Jesus warned His followers of the trap of hypocrisy (Mt 16:6) and how to identify the “wolves in sheep’s clothing“, saying, “Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing but inwardly are ravenous wolves” (Mt 7:15).

These are pretty strong words, especially since Jesus was referring to those pretending to have others’ best interests at heart–like benevolent champions of a good cause–but are really using this persona to deceive others and cover up predatory behavior.

To help them out, He simply told them: “You will know them by their fruits.”

If people’s actions produces “rotten” results, one can determine they do not have others’ best interests at heart (even if they claim they do).

In other words, Jesus is telling His followers to use their brains, their God-given gifts of intellect.

Rotten “fruit”

Take the Transgender Movement, for example.

It’s activists claim the movement’s advocacy is driven by pure love–thus, the “Love is Love” slogan was born.

But can love ever regard evil as good?

No.

Why?

Because evil is the absence of goodness (St. Thomas Aquinas, Summa Theologiae, Q. 49, A. 1, R. 1, https://www.newadvent.org/summa/1049.htm).

Therefore, true love drives out evil (Mt 21:12) by its all encompassing love for the truth (https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=matthew+21%3A12&version=NRSVCE).

That means anything less than the truth is not love but a lie.

The simple truth

So what is this truth by which the Transgender Movement is so repelled?

It’s very simple (as all truths are): 1. Human beings are made in the image and likeness of God (that is, we share in His likeness with our own gifts of intellect, imagination, memory and will).

And 2., God made us male and female.

Also, inherent to His perfection, God does not make mistakes. (See Gen 1:26-27, https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Genesis+1%3A26-27&version=NRSVCE).

Nor is God a jerk. He does not create us out of malice to make us His “play things”, or leave us alone to “figure things out.”

He made us out of love so we can experience and share in His love.

It’s very simple, yet one must ask himself, why does the Transgender Movement dispute this truth?

How can evil drive out evil?

When the Jewish religious authorities publicly accused Jesus of using the power of the prince of demons (Beelzebul) to drive out other demons (Mt 12:24), He simply used reason (common sense) to refute their claim.

The Christian must do the same.

How can evil drive out evil? (Mt 12:26). If it drove itself out, how could it still exist?

Yet it does exist. Therefore, only goodness can drive out evil.

True love is life-giving

Goodness, like faith, is rooted in reasonable evidence. And evidence bears witness to either life-giving or degenerate results.

That being said, God is in the business of generating life.

Without God, there is no life.

So, using reason, one could deduce that without life, there is no love.

Therefore, without God, there can also be no love.

May all Christians boldly proclaim, “Alleluia Jesus the Christ has risen and is alive!”

Have a blessed Divine Mercy Sunday.

St. Faustina Kowalska (1905-1938), pray for us.