A one-sided relationship will not be a positive one, between human beings that is. Any counselor, especially in marriages, will tell you that in any healthy relationship between two people, there needs to be a reasonable amount of parity in the giving and taking.
 
Even Pope emeritus Benedict XVI stresses that as human beings, we cannot only live out an oblative or self-giving form of love - agape - when it comes to love, we must also receive. In his first encyclical, Deus Caritas Est, he writes: “On the other hand, man cannot live by oblative, descending love alone. He cannot always give, he must also receive. Anyone who wishes to give love must also receive love as a gift.”
 
Still, it seems that very often the Lord’s relationship with us can be one sided: he does all the giving, or at least gives the most, by far. It also appears that he does the inviting; much less do we invite him into our lives, relationships and decisions. This, of course, should not surprise us. Christ is, after all, as Pope Francis points out, “the face of the Father’s mercy.” Jesus Christ is love incarnate, in person.
 
The reading for today’s Mass, from the Gospel according to John, chapter 14, provides one of many examples of how Christ keeps on loving, giving and inviting. Throughout the teachings and actions of Jesus, a major theme arises: he always desires for us to be included in his plans and, especially, his plan of salvation. Christ’s intention from today’s reading is clear: “On that day you will realize that I am in my Father and you are in me and I in you.”
 
He always desires for us to be included in his life; in fact, in the very life of God. Greater closeness is not attainable. Christ respects our individuality, but opens the door for us to experience deep and lasting union with him, with his Father and in the very fullness of God. Why is this? We are talking more than just a gesture of friendship; it’s about an experience of the most abundant and unconditional love – a love that Christ never thinks to stop giving.
 
It’s true that Jesus says, “Whoever has my commandments and observes them is the one who loves me.” However, when the first and foremost commandments he gives are love of God, neighbor and yourself, it becomes clear that our lives as God’s beloved children, as being created to live in community and as having true needs of love and sustenance, then his commandments not only command, but are truly life-giving. 
 
Have you ever really contemplated just how much God loves you and how much Christ reveals that? Have you ever even tried to understand why and how Christ would even be concerned about our well-being and standing in this world and in all eternity, but to the point of offering us communion with him? Mind-boggling? Indeed, but God’s love is never subject to the limits of human imagination or, thank God, the whims of human desires and self-interest.
 
A lifetime spent searching for fulfillment and satisfaction will always come up short unless our giving and receiving are not linked to conditions, but rooted in Christ who gives without measure and linked to others who sometimes are in need and other times generous.
 
As many times as we might be tempted to dismiss Christ’s invitation or somehow overlook it, he is more available to continue calling out to us and inviting us to union with him. Need for us, he has none; love for us, he will never run dry.
 
The mystery of God might lie beyond our understanding, but the Lord opens the way so we might grow in knowledge, but from within, within the embrace of his mercy.