So let's talk about today's readings 1/7/10

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cheeto1

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January 7, 2010
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Reading I
1 Jn 4:19–5:4
Beloved, we love God because
he first loved us.
If anyone says, “I love God,”
but hates his brother, he is a liar;
for whoever does not love a brother whom he has seen
cannot love God whom he has not seen.
This is the commandment we have from him:
Whoever loves God must also love his brother.
Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ is begotten by God,
and everyone who loves the Father
loves also the one begotten by him.
In this way we know that we love the children of God
when we love God and obey his commandments.
For the love of God is this,
that we keep his commandments.
And his commandments are not burdensome,
for whoever is begotten by God conquers the world.
And the victory that conquers the world is our faith.

Responsorial Psalm
72:1-2, 14 and 15bc, 17
R. (see 11) Lord, every nation on earth will adore you.
O God, with your judgment endow the king,
and with your justice, the king’s son;
He shall govern your people with justice
and your afflicted ones with judgment.
R. Lord, every nation on earth will adore you.
From fraud and violence he shall redeem them,
and precious shall their blood be in his sight.
May they be prayed for continually;
day by day shall they bless him.
R. Lord, every nation on earth will adore you.
May his name be blessed forever;
as long as the sun his name shall remain.
In him shall all the tribes of the earth be blessed;
all the nations shall proclaim his happiness.
R. Lord, every nation on earth will adore you.
Gospel

Lk 4:14-22
Jesus returned to Galilee in the power of the Spirit,
and news of him spread throughout the whole region.
He taught in their synagogues and was praised by all.
He came to Nazareth, where he had grown up,
and went according to his custom
into the synagogue on the sabbath day.
He stood up to read and was handed a scroll of the prophet Isaiah.
He unrolled the scroll and found the passage where it was written:
The Spirit of the Lord is upon me,
because he has anointed me
to bring glad tidings to the poor.
He has sent me to proclaim liberty to captives
and recovery of sight to the blind,
to let the oppressed go free,
and to proclaim a year acceptable to the Lord.

Rolling up the scroll, he handed it back to the attendant and sat down,
and the eyes of all in the synagogue looked intently at him.
He said to them,
“Today this Scripture passage is fulfilled in your hearing.”
And all spoke highly of him
and were amazed at the gracious words that came from his mouth.
 
“Beloved, we love God because He first loved us”
– Today our priest said that many people have asked him how to love God more.
He said there is a way to do it. What do you think it is? Is it by loving your
neighbor more? Is it by praying more or more sacraments? Is it by forgiving
people? Keeping the commandments? In his silence, I wondered all these
things. Then he said, there is a way to do it, but it requires meditation.
Meditation on how He has loved us. We don’t love God more by trying harder,
but by meditating on how He has loved us.

“and precious shall their blood be in his sight”
– this part made me think of the martyrs

“Jesus returned to Galilee in the power of the Spirit”
– What does this mean? Could there ever be a time when Jesus had “less”
power of the Spirit?

today is the day of Raymond of Penyfort, who worked hard to free slaves.

So what struck you about today’s readings? :bible1::twocents:
 
So what struck you about today’s readings? :bible1::twocents:
From John, I was struck by the universal love that we should have for others. It’s not merely “love all Catholics” or “love all Christians” or “love thoise who believe and agree as you do.” It’s everyone. Full stop. That quote allows no room for racism, or anti-semitism or any other kinds of petty hatred. To love one another as the highest commandment resonates, as we are all God’s creation. To hate a man because he’s black, or because he’s Hindu, or gay or whatever is to hate God, because God made that man.
 
“Beloved, we love God ***because
he first loved us. ***”

This amazes me… even our ability to love and love God is actually God in us. Amazes me.

And, "And his commandments are not burdensome,
for whoever is begotten by God conquers the world. "

I notice that as I progress in love, the commandments/rules I thought were burdensome and offensive even, become not so. Without any real effort on my part.
 
‘whoever does not love a brother whom he has seen
cannot love God whom he has not seen.’

This struck me, because John seems to be implying that it is easier to love that which we see than that which we don’t. So even though we can say ‘we love God’, yet we find that we are lacking in love or charity towards someone who really bothers us, that love we feel when we say ‘we love God’ - is it real Love?
So what he’s saying is the acid test for True Love, ie the Love of God, is not being lacking in anyway in Love towards anyone - to have a perfect love as Jesus has for us. So that would imply, being willing to die on the cross - ‘Greater love has no man than this: that he lay down his life for his friends’ Gospel of John 15:13.

And Jesus goes above and beyond this, showing that His Love, springing from His divinity, was greater than the greatest love a man can have, because Jesus died for all sinners.
‘It is not easy to die even for a good man – though of course for someone really worthy, a
man might be prepared to die – but what proves that God loves us is that Christ died for us while we were still sinners.’ Rom 5:7-8

So our love for God can be perfect only if we love Him as He Loves us. But how can this be possible? We are only human. In fact, St Therese of Liseux had the same question. Here is her take on it:
‘When God, under the old law, told His people to love their neighbours as themselves, He had not yet come down to earth. As He knew how much we love ourselves, He could not ask us to do more. But when Jesus gave His apostles a “new commandment, His own commandment,” He did not ask only that we should love our neighbours as ourselves but that we should love them as He loves them and as He will love them to the end of time. O Jesus, I know You command nothing that is impossible. You know how weak and imperfect I am, and You know only too well that I could never love the other nuns as You love them if You Yourself did not love them within me. It is because You wish to grant me this grace that You have given a new commandment. How I cherish it, for it assures me that it is Your will to love in me all those whom You command me to love.’ Story of a Soul, Chapter 9.

Wow, Love is such an amazing topic - there has been so much written on it, in the Bible, by different learned people, by exegetes, we spend our whole lives trying to understand it, in whatever form, even non-Christians - it is ingrained in our human nature. And at the end of the day, Love is all that matters.

God bless:)
 
‘whoever does not love a brother whom he has seen
cannot love God whom he has not seen.’

This struck me, because John seems to be implying that it is easier to love that which we see than that which we don’t.
I wonder why? It’s so much easier to love God, who loves us. Jesus said even sinners love those who love them. But the beloved disciple goes even farther than
to say what is easier or harder, and says without love of brother, it is impossible to
love God. You are right. We will spend our lives figuring out this love thing.
But not by ourselves. God is with us, and so it is fun. 🙂
 
I notice that as I progress in love, the commandments/rules I thought were burdensome and offensive even, become not so. Without any real effort on my part.
Every so often, I look at Corinthians 13 and see how I am doing.
I usually get stuck on the part about “love does not take offense”.
But, I have wondered, when we lose our patience, do we lose our love?
 
Every so often, I look at Corinthians 13 and see how I am doing.
I heard of this recently. Someone suggested going through that chapter and instead of Love put in I, eg ‘I am patient and kind…’. Then when you go back and read it, it can give you a pretty good idea of where you are cos some things will stick out as needing work. It’s a good idea.
God bless:)
 
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