Dear Lord, it seems that you are so madly in love with your creatures that you could not live without us.  So you created us; and then, when we turned away from you, you redeemed us.  Yet, you are God and so have no need of us.  Your greatness is made no greater by our creation; your power is made no stronger by our redemption.  You have no duty to care for us, no debt to repay us.
It is love, and love alone, which moves you.

Saint Catherine of Siena, 1347-1380, Italian mystic, activist, and author

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This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him.  This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins.