‘God Truly Loves Me’

April 1, 2025

In assuming our humanity for our salvation, Christ draws near to each and every one of us

By Supreme Chaplain Archbishop William E. Lori

April 1, 2025

Supreme Chaplain Archbishop William E. Lori

On the first Sunday of Lent, the Church celebrates the Rite of Election, and we affirm the intent of those who have asked to be baptized and received into the Church. As their names are enrolled, they are numbered among the elect who will receive the sacraments of initiation — baptism, confirmation and first Eucharist — at the Easter Vigil.

This year’s Rite of Election in the Archdiocese of Baltimore was beautiful. The Cathedral of Mary Our Queen was filled to overflowing. Nearly 800 catechumens and candidates for reception into the Church were joined by their godparents, sponsors, families and friends. The palpable joy was a reminder that the Church is alive, growing and full of hope.

Afterward, I greeted those who participated. A young woman, a college student, took me aside. “It wasn’t easy getting here,” she said. She wasn’t talking about the traffic but her spiritual journey. “Most of my life,” she said, “I believed in God, but God always seemed distant. I didn’t think he was interested in me or cared about me. I had a hard time believing that he loved me.”

“What changed your mind?” I asked. “Soon after starting college,” she said, “I was invited to campus ministry. I met a lot of people my age who really love the Lord and the Church. As they talked about their faith, I looked at my own life. I realized that God wasn’t far away from me. I kept walking away from him. So here I am!”

As we approach the end of our Lenten journey and prepare for the solemn celebrations of Holy Week, let us take the following reality to heart: The Lord truly does love us. St. Paul wrote to the Galatians, “The Son of God … has loved me and given himself up for me” (2:20). This is what we celebrate in Holy Week. God sent his Son to become one of us, to preach the good news of redemption, to heal the sick, to give us himself in the Eucharist, and to suffer and die for the forgiveness of sins, only to rise in triumph on that first Easter morning. In this way, the God of glory and majesty has drawn very near to each of us and to all of us.

The Lord didn’t redeem us from afar. No, he penetrated to the depth of existence where rages the battle between good and evil, sin and grace, life and death — and in our flesh, in our humanity, he won for us the victory.

As you witness anew Jesus’ entry in Jerusalem, sit with the Apostles in the Upper Room, walk the Way of the Cross, and stand guard at the entrance to the tomb, ask for the grace to realize what the Lord has done for us. He didn’t redeem us from afar. He didn’t wave a wand. No, he penetrated to the depth of existence where rages the battle between good and evil, sin and grace, life and death — and in our flesh, in our humanity, he won for us the victory.

This is something that God did for everyone, for he wants everyone to be saved and come to knowledge of the truth (see 1 Tm 2:4). But God also did it for each of us personally. You and I need to ponder what the young woman told me on the steps of the cathedral: “God wasn’t far away from me. I kept walking away from him.”

Her words offer us a second takeaway as well. She discovered Christ and began to follow Christ thanks to the witness and friendship of her fellow students. In a word, she spoke to me about “fraternity.” No one takes the faith journey alone. We walk together.

The Order’s Cor initiative is all about discovering in the depth of our hearts that God is close to us — indeed, he knows and loves us more deeply than we know and love ourselves. And this discovery involves walking together, supporting one another in our faith journey, helping one another to take to heart not mere ideas but the truths of the faith that flow from the love which the triune God has lavished upon us.

As we celebrate the joy of Easter, let us make it the goal of our lives to share in the victory over sin and death our Savior won for us.

Metal bucket at draw-well in European village.

‘God Truly Loves Me’

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