Day 2: “God is love”
In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.
Amen.
Opening Prayer
Glorious Saint John the Evangelist, the disciple whom Jesus loved and guardian of Our Lady, I come before you in this novena with confidence. You who knew Jesus with a unique intimacy and who brought to the world the deepest revelation of his love, intercede for me before the Lord. May I too discover that I am “the disciple whom Jesus loves.” Amen.
Meditation
One of the most radical statements in all of Scripture was written by John, not in his Gospel but in his First Letter: “God is love” (1 John 4:8, 16). Not “God has love,” not “God acts with love”: “God is love.” Love is not one attribute of God among others: it is his essence, who he is before anything he does.
This statement changed humanity’s understanding of God forever: it helps us overcome the image of a distant or indifferent God and recognize that God, in his deepest nature, is love.
Prayer of the Day
Saint John, who wrote “God is love,” intercede that I may live with the certainty of this revelation. When I doubt God’s love or when circumstances make me feel that God is distant or indifferent, may I return to this truth: God is love. He cannot be otherwise. May I love others with the love I have received. Amen.
Our Father × 1
Hail Mary × 1
Glory Be × 1
Closing Prayer
Glorious Saint John the Evangelist, beloved disciple of Jesus and guardian of Our Lady, receive the prayers of this novena. Intercede for me before the Lord and obtain for me the graces I need. May the revelation you proclaimed, “God is love,” become the certainty that sustains my life. May I live as “the disciple whom Jesus loves.” Through Christ our Lord. Amen.
