We are called to love our Lord Jesus as we love no other. We are to love him as those who are deeply loved by him. We give ourselves to be with him as the one who is always with us in love. We give ourselves to be for him as the one who is always for us. We give ourselves to serve this Lord who has served us. We give ourselves to obey the Lord who works within us all that is pleasing to him.

Of course, we always fall short in these attempts to love our Lord. We cannot even dream about offering our own love as an adequate response to his love. Nevertheless, God’s Spirit brings Jesus to us as the one who never stops loving us. Even though our love for him fails, again and again, he goes on loving us and giving himself for us and to us. The Spirit also points us to Jesus now exalted in the Father’s presence as the one who always sympathizes with us in our weaknesses. Before his Father, he constantly intercedes for us as the man who truly loves God and us. And so, by the Spirit, we are assured that Jesus goes on loving us even though we can never be anything but unworthy and therefore undeserving of his love. We are sure that we are fully accepted and grasped by his true love. And this love for the undeserving draws us to offer ourselves as living sacrifices and holds us there.