We know and rely on the love God has for us. God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in them. This is how love is made complete among us so that we will have confidence on the day of judgment: In this world we are like Jesus. There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love. (1 John 4:16-18)
"We know and rely on the love God has for us ": the evangelizers not only recognized in Jesus the Son of God (they witnessed an event of salvation), but they also understood that the sending of the Son of God was the supreme sign of the Father's love for us. This sign of love is expressed in the fact that God has made us His children (3: 1). The announcers therefore understood the meaning of the event well. They therefore believed in the Son Jesus and, together, they believed in Love.
" God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in them": for this reason faith in God (Father, Son and Holy Spirit) is faith in Love (4,8). We should not assume that we have understood what love is and that we have believed in it.
Whoever believes in Love abides in love and in God. God is Love. In turn, the God-Love dwells in him (in perfect mutual communion). The expression “remain in love” is very significant: it indicates a permanence due to a full immersion: “Remain in my love. If you keep my commandments, you will remain in my love, just as I have kept my Father's commandments and remain in his love for him "(Jn 15: 9). We can see how the same effects of communion that are operated by Faith (v. 15) are also operated by Charity. Faith and charity are no longer separate, but faith is vivified by charity and charity is illuminated by faith.
Now remain in my love. If you keep my commands, you will remain in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commands and remain in his love.
"This is how love is made complete among us so that we will have confidence on the day of judgment". “This is how” refers to what was said earlier, namely, that God is Love and that we have believed in such incredible Love, in which we abide. Such faith and such abiding brings our love to perfection. The concept of perfection is very much developed in the letter to the Hebrews. In it Christ is presented as a perfect Being and as the One who makes us perfect by sanctifying us. Jesus in John's Gospel speaks of perfection in unity (Jn 17:23), while in Matthew's Gospel (after speaking of love for one's enemies) he proposes to all to be perfect like the Father (Mt 5:48). In our letter, the Author speaks of perfection only in regard to love: it is concretized in the fullness of love.
Divine love is perfect in us when we faithfully observe God's Word (2:5), when we love one another (4:12), as often as we believe Love and abide in it (4:17), and when we are not afraid before God (4:18). We must be perfect in love; if our love is not perfect it is not Love. Whoever is perfect in love and whoever knows that he is infinitely loved has nothing to fear on the day of judgment, which is the day of truth. On this day the secrets of hearts will be revealed without possibility of error. Even now, however, the true Christian feels within himself a great peace and security (cf. 3:21) which is manifested, among other things, in the certainty with which he knows he will be heard when he prays (5:14). Love, then, produces confidence, boldness, freedom of speech and action in God's world.
“In this world we are like Jesus”. For John, this confidence comes from the fact that we, who are still in this world, are already like Jesus is. There is a perfect conformation to Him, an imitation, an attunement at all levels (intelligence, will, life...). Moreover, we are loved by the Father, as He is.
“There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear”. Every form of discomfort, fear, doubt before God is a sign that our love has not reached its maximum. In perfect love (given and received) there is only continuous peace, full joy (Rom 8:15). We must move from fear to love. "He who formerly feared the return of Christ, because he was afraid that Christ would find in him an ungodly person to condemn, now longs for Him to come, since he will be able to find in him a righteous person to reward. Since a chaste soul desires the return of Christ, longing for the embrace of the bridegroom, he leaves adulterous loves; he becomes inwardly a virgin by the work of faith, hope and charity... When she prays and says, "Thy Kingdom come," she does not come into conflict with herself.... Some people endure death; others, who have reached perfection, endure life. Let me explain: those who still love this mortal life, when death comes, accept it with patience.... But he who is attracted by the desire for death... does not die with resignation; on the contrary, after having endured life, he dies with joy" (Augustine, Meditations).
“Fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love”. For John, fear, which weakens love, always has to do with punishment. Instead of sanctimoniously fearing offending God, we slavishly fear only the punishment our sins deserve. If there were no punishment, we would sometimes have no fear of resisting God. Instead, it takes love for its own sake; we must know how to love only out of love. Any kind of fear is a lack of "parresía," which comes from a boundless trust in the mercy of God the Father, who forgives us. When will we decide to ask God for the gift of perfect love, of the pure intention to love him only because he is lovable, without the presence of some personal interest? Augustine, for his part, exhorted his brothers thus: "Let the desire for judgment arise within you. Perfect charity cannot be demonstrated except when one begins to desire the day of judgment" (Augustine, Meditations).
In the passage of May 26, 1935, Jesus tells Luisa that fear, be it even holy fear, is always human virtue, it breaks the flight of love and gives rise to dread and hardship in walking on the way of good; it causes one to always look to the right and to the left, reaching the point of fearing the One who so much loves her; it takes away the sweet enchantment from the trust that makes her live in the arms of her Jesus; and if she fears too much, fear disperses Jesus and causes her to live of herself. On the other hand, love is divine virtue, and with its fire it possesses the purifying virtue to purify the soul from any stain; it unites her and transforms her into her Jesus, and gives her such trust as to let herself be captivated by her Jesus. The sweet enchantment of trust is such and so great that they captivate each other, so much so, that one cannot be without the other; and if she looks, she looks only to love the One who so much loves her. So, the whole of her being is enclosed in love; and since love is the inseparable child of the Divine Will, it therefore gives the first place of dominion to the Divine Will. God’s Will extends within all the acts of the creature, both human and spiritual; It ennobles everything, and even though the human acts remain in the shape and matter with which they were formed, and they under-go no external change, all the change lies in the depth of the human will, because everything she does, even the most indifferent things, is changed into divine and confirmed by the Divine Will. Its crafting is incessant, and It extends Its dwelling of peace over everything that the creature does.
Therefore, let’s banish all fear. In the Divine Will neither fear nor dread, nor lack of trust, have any reason to exist; they are things that do not belong to God, and we must do nothing other than live of God’s love and of His Will. One of the purest joys that the creature can give God is trust in Him. God feels her as His daughter and He does with her anything He wants. We can say that trust reveals Who God is – the immense Being, His goodness unending, His mercy with no limits; and the more trust God finds, the more He loves her and the more He abounds toward creatures.