The Scripture ~ “There is no room in love for fear. Well-formed love banishes fear. Since fear is crippling, a fearful life—fear of death, fear of judgment—is one not yet fully formed in love.” 1st John 4:18 The Message

The Spiritual Focus ~ “What is Love?”; “The total absence of fear,” said the Master; “What is it we fear?”; “Love,” said the Master.” Anthony de Mello

Breath Prayer ~ BE Loved

The Devotion ~ A lifestyle of loving kindness is an outcome, the result of an idea that is experienced, embodied, and then becomes a natural expression of life together. God loves us, we love ourselves so then we love others. Seems simple —so what could possibly get in the way? If one digs deep enough into this question, one will find that fear is at the core; fear is what gets in the way. Whatever fear you name, the core of that fear is the fear of not being loved, and yet, we are promised that we have been given the Spirit of Love and nothing can separate us from Love. When we trust God and believe this, every act, every breath, can become one of loving kindness. When we become, because we are BE-Loved, the caring, non-judgmental, non-competitive people we are created to be, a loving kindness lifestyle becomes natural.

Yoga has much to contribute to this conversation. Patanjali, a second-century sage and co-author of the Yoga Sutras [writings of yoga philosophy] taught practices to encourage a lifestyle of unconditional love. He believed unconditional love becomes possible when you practice cultivating the four states of mind. Collectively, these four qualities: lovingkindness, compassion, joy and equanimity are the qualities of true, authentic, and unconditional love. It is a beautiful expression of God’s activity in the world when the theology of God’s unconditional love for us and a philosophy of yoga suggests ways to live into that unconditional love.