“God is love” (1 Jn 4:8) (This phrase is repeated in 1 Jn 4:16) The definition of the Trinity as "Three persons in one God" misses out on the giving and love between each person.
The greatest act of love that someone can do for another is to die for them. In other words, to give of oneself totally. This is expressed in the definition of love as 'self-gift'. In the Trinity this is total. We have already learnt that God is infinite. This giving has no beginning nor end, just as each person has no beginning nor end. As a human being, we are a person and love is something we do, but we can also hate. ‘What’ I am, is a human being (body and soul). When it comes to God, God is always giving. The ‘whatness’ of God, what God IS, is pure infinite unconditional giving. The ‘whatness’ of God is self-gift, therefore, the ‘whatness’ of God is love, which is self gift. God IS love. Love is something we do, but love is what God is.
The only way God can relate to us is by loving us.
God does not need us since God is already infinite. Therefore God made us to share himself with us for our own sakes. God wants to share all of himself with us just as he shares all of himself with each divine person of the Trinity. God the Father loves us with the same love he has for God the Son, an infinite, total, unconditional love.
For us to share in the love of the Trinity, we need to become like God and give all of ourselves to God and receive all that God is. The more we give of ourselves to God, the more we will be transformed to share more of God. What God most wants is our sin. He wants to enter into those places in our soul where he is not. Reconciliation is THE way we allow God to enter our sin and transform us. Baptism is the first time sacramentally we enter into God and God enters into us. We need to renew our self gift to God everyday. Daily prayer is the way we do that and allow ourselves to be gradually transformed by God's love.
“God himself is an eternal exchange of love, Father, Son and Holy Spirit, and he has destined us to share in that exchange.” (CCC 221)
God is love (1 Jn 4:8). One definition of love is self gift. Each person of the Trinity totally, unconditionally and infinitly gives himself to the other persons of the Trinity. Each human is a person and love is something we do. For each person of the Trinity, there is no beginning nor end to their self-gift. 'What' God is, is self-giving. Therefore God's nature is one of self-gift. Therefore love is not just something God does, but is what God is. God is love.
The only way God can relate to us is by loving us.
God already has everything since he is infinite. God created us so we can receive all that God is, which is the unconditional gift of himself to us. God wants to share his divine nature with us, since jsut as each person of the Trinity receives and gives self totally, so too should we receive all that God is and give all that we are to God including our sin. God enters our life sacramentally through baptism and enters and cleanses us of sin through reconciliation. We should ask God into our lives every day.
“God himself is an eternal exchange of love, Father, Son and Holy Spirit, and he has destined us to share in that exchange.” (CCC 221)