Beloved:
We have this confidence in God,
that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us.
And if we know that he hears us in regard to whatever we ask,
we know that what we have asked him for is ours.
If anyone sees his brother sinning, if the sin is not deadly,
he should pray to God and he will give him life.
This is only for those whose sin is not deadly.
There is such a thing as deadly sin,
about which I do not say that you should pray.
All wrongdoing is sin, but there is sin that is not deadly.
We know that no one begotten by God sins;
but the one begotten by God he protects,
and the Evil One cannot touch him.
We know that we belong to God,
and the whole world is under the power of the Evil One.
We also know that the Son of God has come
and has given us discernment to know the one who is true.
And we are in the one who is true, in his Son Jesus Christ.
He is the true God and eternal life.
Children, be on your guard against idols. 1 JN 5:14-21
As we enter the last days of Christmas, may we take away one thing. Each day we will recognize that Jesus dwells with us. He is not far away. His Spirit is in us if we are baptized. He is in the Eucharist and the Blessed Sacrament. Go and receive Him and sit with Him in Church or an Adoration chapel. He is in the people you live with working to bring them back to the Father. He is also in the homeless, the refugee, those who live in poverty, the elderly, the spouse or child that needs forgiveness, the prostitute and drug dealer, the murderer in prison. This is where we see the face of God, in the lonely, those who feel unwanted or unloved. Make a resolution to love the unlovable this year!
Today, John continues in his Catholic letter to teach us about prayer, sin, and false gods. First, he says, “We have this confidence in God, that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us”. Often times we ask for miracles, when all we really need is faith, grace, and to love better to help us overcome the obstacles, trials, and temptations of our lives. First we must pray each day in silence faithfully making it a habit, then we can start to focus on what God’s will is and what to pray for. Second, John teaches us that there are serious or deadly sin and venial or less serious sin,
“If anyone sees his brother sinning, if the sin is not deadly,
he should pray to God and he will give him life.
This is only for those whose sin is not deadly.
There is such a thing as deadly sin,
about which I do not say that you should pray.
All wrongdoing is sin, but there is sin that is not deadly.”
All sin hurts God and needs to be prepared through penance and prayer here on earth or in purgatory. As I mentioned before, one of the greatest tools we have to fight sin is the rosary. The greatest tool we have is the Eucharist, Jesus Himself. God can’t give anymore or He would have. He gave us Himself. We killed Jesus with our sins and He came back with love and forgiveness. Who does that? We have an amazing God who loves us more than we love ourselves. Swallow your pride and allow yourself to be loved. Then, you will be able to experienc joy and peace.
Third, John tells us to guard against idols. One easy way to know if God is the center of your life or just a part of your life is whether you celebrated Christmas this year for material goods or for a deeper relationship with Jesus remembering that He dwells among us. I live in a consumer world with you. We have a great distraction to God, materialism. We must fight it and keep God at the center. We must use our material goods to help us grow closer to Christ. We must fast if we find ourselves overusing things. We must learn to share our goods. We cannot allow our material goods to take away our salvation.
Today’s challenge: Every sin hurts our relationship with God. Sit in silence and make prayer a habit so you can reflect on where sin is hurting your relationship with God and others. Reflect on how material goods might be leading us away from God instead of toward God.
Be a servant, become a saint!
#Christian YOLO
Recent Comments