God has first loved us; as we learn from the letter of John, God has loved us into being. Even when we fail God, fail to follow God's ways, God is always waiting to be gracious to us.

God first loved us -- that's the message, the core message of the Gospel. I feel pretty certain that many of us grew up thinking that somehow if we did the right things, ...

Well, first of all, we are not strangers to God — we are His creation. Second, Jesus died willingly on the cross because of his love for us and his love for the Father to do his will.

That’s not the first thing you would imagine: “God, You love us so much, you gave us rules.” But that’s essentially what it says. And I think it’s incredibly powerful.

“Dios te amo primero”—God loved you first. That’s one pronouncement of Pope Francis that will linger in my heart eternally. Like living seeds, the words are growing inside me.

First, and foremost, I am actually not an awful person – I am exactly how God made me, “we love because He first loved us.” 1 John 4:19. God designed me this way – to love to be loved!

Brothers and sisters, may this message be the core of our own faith and all the ways in which we express it: “…not that we loved God but that he loved us” (1 Jn 4:10). Let us never forget this.

Pope: God 'loved first' and with a love without limits. ... The works of mercy "are the continuity of this love, which becomes small, comes to us, and we carry it forward". ...