Word to the Wise
Thursday, January 5, 2023 - Jan. 5
[1 John 3:11-21 and John 1:43-51]We know that we have passed from death to life because we love our brothers. Whoever does not love remains in death....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. [1 John]
JANUARY 5 ST. JOHN NEUMANN cssr
These words from the first scripture for today's Mass echo the words spoken by Jesus in the Gospel According to John in the Last Supper discourse: This is my commandment: love one another as I love you. No one has greater love than this, to lay down one's life for one's friends. [John 15;12].
The Bible contains many exhortations to avoid empty piety that ignores the poverty, injustice and oppression in human society. The fate of prophetic figures from Amos to Jesus shows that human society is quite resistant to those exhortations. It is a continual struggle to avoid letting politics shape faith instead of the other way around - faith shaping politics. Even when faith shapes politics, there is a danger of distortion in zealotry that commits injustice and oppression. What rises above all this is Jesus' commandment of love. A glance at the Gospel According to Matthew - the Sermon on the Mount (chs. 5-7 and 25:31-45 the Last Judgment scene ) - can give one some very challenging things to think about in one's own life of faith and DEEDS. To love as Jesus loves requires more than adoration of the Lord. It requires love of neighbor displayed in concrete compassion. AMEN