"Being Free to Love" . . .

Jesus came to us to help us overcome our fear of God.
As long as we are afraid of God, we cannot love God.
Love means intimacy, closeness, mutual vulnerability,
and a deep sense of safety.
But all of those are impossible as long as there is fear.
Fear creates suspicion, distance, defensiveness, and insecurity.

The greatest block in the spiritual life is fear.
Prayer, meditation, and education
cannot come forth out of fear.
God is perfect love,
and as John the Evangelist writes,
"Perfect love drives out fear" (1 John 4:18).
Jesus' central message is that God loves us
with an unconditional love and desires our love,
free from all fear, in return.

Henry Nouwen