That was the focus of today's homily. God loves all of us equally. This is a difficult concept for people to wrap their minds around. We know, as much as we would like to deny it, that our own love is not constant; it varies between people and even depending on time, hormones, knowledge, and many other factors. Meanwhile God's love is eternal and omnipresent, so much unlike our unconstant love. This brings up some uncomfortable ideas.
When our priest today said that "God loves Buddhists as much as He loves Catholics," my mind initially rebelled. I thought, "How dare he suggest that God would love people who follow Him less than those who don't!" I was taken aback first by the priest's comment and then by my reaction to it. It took me a moment, but I saw the flaw in my thinking. God doesn't love any of us less than anyone else, but by that same token, God doesn't love any of us more than anyone else either. God's love is so infinite, so unwavering, that it includes all of us everywhere.
This is hard for me to swallow. I prefer to think of myself as above average, as blessed ... as favored. It's hard to reconcile that with the idea that God loves the unrepentant and the unbelievers as much as He loves me. Yet that is the core of Jesus's message, beginning with the Epiphany. God loves us all, equally. That means God loves gay people as much as straight, atheists as much as saints ... even members of the U.S. Congress as much as the rest of us.
His love surrounds us and penetrates us; it binds the galaxy together ...