Good News Reflection
December 5, 2011
Available as a Good News Ministries Podcast:
http://gnm.org/DailyReflections/podcasts
Today's Saint: John Neumann
Pray for the nation:
http://wordbytes.org/saints/DailyPrayers/JohnNeumann.htm
Today’s Readings in the US:
Wednesday After Ephiphany
1 John 4:11-18
Ps 72:1-2,10-13
Mark 6:45-52
http://www.usccb.org/nab/010511.shtml
USCCB Podcast of the Readings:
http://ccc.usccb.org/cccradio/NABPodcasts/11_01_05.mp3
For a reflection on this reading, go to:
http://gnm.org/DailyReflections/010511-US.htm
Today’s Readings outside the US:
Wednesday of the Second week of Christmas
1 John 3:11-21
Ps 100:1-5,
John 1:43-51
http://universalis.com/Europe/20110105/mass.htm
The Gift of Unconditional Love
Like Jesus did with the disciples in today's Gospel reading, he has called you and he says to you: "Be my disciple and you will see great things!"
Sometimes, great things come in surprising forms that do not seem to be great at all. The Eucharist, for example, is given to us in the form of a little wafer or piece of bread; it does not look like it contains the full presence of Jesus with all of his humanity and all of his divinity. The baby Jesus – a tiny, helpless child – does not look like the conqueror of evil.
You and I do not seem great at all, but we contain Jesus. We contain greatness beyond imagining! This greatness does not dwell only "in" us, it comes out of us in the form of love. This is why 1 John 3:11-21 tells us to "love one another."
This scripture points out that we know we have Jesus living within us because of the love that we give to others.
Similarly, we know for sure that we are victorious over evil ("that we have passed from death to life") because we experience Christ's love in us as it flows outward to others.
Think of someone you have not forgiven. Next, think of people you've refused a kindness to because they don't deserve it. This scripture tells us that we are murderers when we hate those who have hurt us, and eternal life does not abide in our hearts. Wow. Gulp. Ouch. Time to run back to the confessional! And perhaps afterward we should go to a spiritual director or a counselor to receive healing for our wounds so that we will become free to love everyone like God does.
"Let us love in deed and in truth instead of merely talking about it." As disciples of Jesus, we're learning how to imitate him. What has he been teaching us from the examples he set?
Well, he came to us, not to be served, but to serve our needs. He even laid down his life for us sinners! So, we must learn that we're not here to be served by those who have treated us poorly. We are here to serve them.
Laying down our lives for others means laying down our wishes, our woundedness, and our selfishness to do good deeds for them. Sometimes this might be from afar, for safety reasons, but always the greatness of Jesus flows outward to them from us.
It's right to separate ourselves from those who repeatedly hurt us. An abused wife cannot be Jesus for her husband until she first gets herself and her children to safety, works on her own healing with a counselor, and learns to love herself with God's own love for her. Only then will she become strong enough to love her husband with the true presence of Christ who's living within her.
Each time we do deeds of love for others, whether they deserve it or not, we are giving them the gift of Jesus. We are like Mary, giving birth to Love himself. By loving others in deed and in truth, we make every day a Christmas day.
© 2010 by Terry A. Modica
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