Word to the Wise
Monday, December 29, 2014 - Dec. 29 - 5th Day in the Octave of Christmas
[1 John 2:3-11 and Luke 2:22-35]"The way we may be sure that we know Jesus is to keep his commandments. Whoever says, 'I know him,' but does not keep his commandments is a liar, and the truth is not in him. But whoever keeps his word, the love of God is truly perfected in him. This is the way we may know that we are in union with him: whoever claims to abide in him ought to walk just as he walked." [1 John]
In the season of Christmas/Epiphany the principal liturgical image is a newborn child, or at least Jesus as no older than twelve! Nevertheless, the challenge goes beyond the event of Jesus' birth to reflection on all of Jesus' life. How can we claim to know him at all? The First Letter of John suggests that the best way is to do as Jesus did! This would be echoed in my own time by the "Jesus movement" of the 1970's when young people were wearing a bracelet with the letters WWJD on them: "What would Jesus do?"
Someone once asked the great spiritual writer, C. S. Lewis, "How do I know I love God?" Lewis responded, "Presume that you do love God and then act accordingly!" If we look on the newborn Jesus, we must recognize that it is his entire life that we embrace from Bethlehem to Calvary. If we love him, then we must walk as he did. There will be much ahead of us but we will be in good company! AMEN