Beloved:
This is the message you have heard from the beginning:
we should love one another,
unlike Cain who belonged to the Evil One
and slaughtered his brother.
Why did he slaughter him?
Because his own works were evil,
and those of his brother righteous.
Do not be amazed, then, brothers and sisters, if the world hates you.
We know that we have passed from death to life
because we love our brothers.
Whoever does not love remains in death.
Everyone who hates his brother is a murderer,
and you know that no murderer has eternal life remaining in him.
The way we came to know love
was that he laid down his life for us;
so we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers.
If someone who has worldly means
sees a brother in need and refuses him compassion,
how can the love of God remain in him?
Children, let us love not in word or speech
but in deed and truth.
Now this is how we shall know that we belong to the truth
and reassure our hearts before him
in whatever our hearts condemn,
for God is greater than our hearts and knows everything.
Beloved, if our hearts do not condemn us,
we have confidence in God. 1 JN 3:11-21
First, John reveals to us what Christ said the night before He died, “love one another as I have loved you”. How do we know what love is?
“The way we came to know love
was that he laid down his life for us;
so we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers.”
Then, John gives us examples. If we do not help someone in need and have compassion for them we do not have God in us. He goes further and says, “love not in word or speech but in deed and truth”. How do we know we are doing this? “In whatever our hearts condemn”. What is the intention of your heart? We do not know unless we spend time in silence and talk to Jesus. We are baptized and have Jesus’s Spirit in us. This is what He died for. He wants to dwell among us and speak to us in the depths of our hearts. We must listen in silence. Matthew Kelly calls it the classroom of silence. This is where we come back to center. We come to know peace, joy, and purpose. This is where God speaks to us. As we continue in the celebration of Christmas our perfect models are Mary and Joseph. They have very few words in the Scriptures (Joseph has zero) because they spend their lives in the classroom of silence listening and watching God who dwells with them. Mary watched and “kept these things in her heart”. Joseph worked and prayed. They both consecrated themselves to God doing His will even if it meant suffering. They both had an extreme poverty to stay humble, give up what they wanted, suffered, and listened to God’s will. In this great poverty, they received the greatest crowns and places in heaven. They stayed focused on the Truth which dwelled among them. This same Truth dwells with us in the Eucharist, the Mass, in the Holy Spirit guiding us, in humanity, in priests, in the Scriptures which are fully alive and timeless, in good deeds and compassion for others, but most importantly in love. Freedom exists for love. Are you free? We have the ability to be holy if we choose it. God’s grace is a gift given to all through the sacrifice of Jesus on the Cross and is received through the sacraments, prayer, the Mass, and compassion for others. It exists in forgivenss and begins with hope. We must adore God humbly first and put things into perspective recognizing we are sinners that need God’s mercy. We can do nothing apart from Christ. He must be the center of our lives starting with the first thoughts of our day. Then, we must renew our baptismal vows with purpose to free ourselves from sin, fight the Devil, and grow in holiness. Last, we must live it out in our deeds and share it through compassion and forgiveness for those God surrounds us with. We must protect the Truth, seek it out, and allow it to transform us to be other-Christs. We will encounter persecution and suffering. Everyone suffers. Christ gave us an avenue for more grace by offering it up with His suffering to grow in holiness and conquer sin and death. If we don’t, the Cross loses it power and purpose for us. Love likes to sufffer. Are you ready to lay down your life for your friends?
Today’s challenge: Spend time in silence each day. Who in your life do you need to lay your life down for, forgive, serve, and love better? So many people around you have given up their life to make yours better because Christ dwells within them. Seek them out and thank them starting with Christ! Imitate them by passing it on.
Be a servant, become a saint!
#Christian YOLO
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