Word to the Wise
Tuesday, January 7, 2020 - Tuesday after Epiphany, or Jan. 8
[1 John 4:7-10 and Mark 6:34-44]Beloved, let us love one another, because love is of God; everyone who loves is begotten by God and knows God. Whoever is without love does not know God, for God is love. [1 John]
JANUARY 7 TUESDAY AFTER THE EPIPHANY [St. Raymond of Penafort, O.P.]
I have seen the last three words of the quotation above many times in homes either in plaques or embroidered in cross-stitch and framed on the wall. "God is love." But those words carry a challenge and a privilege. It is both privilege and challenge to be like God! The First Letter of John will go on later to say that whoever says they love God whom they cannot see and hates their brother or sister whom they CAN see is a liar!
In some ways we all fail at love. We can read the Sermon on the Mount or the Last Judgment scene - both in the Gospel According to Matthew - and realize just how much we do fail in love. We cannot separate love of God from love of neighbor. This is why some of the hot political and social topics of our time call us to account, because we often allow our political or cultural feelings and opinions to overwhelm our desire to be better Christians. Racism, immigration, sexual orientation, and other tense subjects can reveal where we are lacking in our desire to love God!!
The Gospel According to John will tell us that "God so loved the world that he sent his only-begotten Son...." [John 3:16]. But if we are to imitate that act of love we have to put "skin on our faith." AMEN