First John Day Six

The main ideas from this information are: - The speaker is joyful to share the Gospel and encourages others to do the same. - They are reflecting on the mystery of the Incarnation and the importance of knowing God and acting in righteousness. - The love of the Father for us makes us children of God, and our righteousness comes from this love, not human effort. - The speaker emphasizes the role of the Holy Spirit in recognizing our union with God and keeping His commandments. - Jesus has imparted an anointing of the Holy Spirit to us, and as we surrender to the Spirit, we are conformed to the Son and become children of God. - The passage from 1 John highlights the hope of being like God when it is revealed, and the purity that comes from this hope. - Sin is described as lawlessness, and those who remain in God do not sin. - The speaker encourages listeners to lean into the love of God and surrender to the work of the Holy Spirit in Greetings, friends. What a joy to share the Gospel. As we continue to enjoy the graces of this Christmas season, we do so by prayerfully pondering together the mystery of the Incarnation, remember, that radiant center of the Gospel. And we do so in light of St. John's First Letter. Let's pause once again for a moment, preparing ourselves to encounter the Word as living and present to us. If you will, take a deep breath slowly in and slowly out. Come, Lord Jesus. Allow your Holy Spirit to bring your Word to life in me. May I hear your voice, Good Shepherd. And so let's enter into the Word. We read together from the First Letter of John, chapter 2, verse 29, through chapter 3, verse 6. If you consider that God is righteous, you also know that everyone who acts in righteousness is begotten by him. See what love the Father has bestowed on us, that we may be called the children of God? Yet so we are. The reason the world does not know us is that it did not know him. Beloved, we are God's children now. What we shall be has not yet been revealed. We do know that when it is revealed we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is. Everyone who has this hope based on him makes himself pure, as he is pure. Everyone who commits sin commits lawlessness, for sin is lawlessness. You know that he was revealed to take away sins, and in him there is no sin. No one who remains in him sins. No one who sins has seen him or known him. This passage begins, as you can see, with the insistence that those who know God are, as God himself is, righteous. Lawlessness and sin have no place in the Christian. The center of these verses, however, makes it clear that the righteousness of the Christian is not based on the willpower flowing from human effort. Righteousness is the outgrowth of the love with which we have been loved by God. How powerfully, poignantly even, the beloved disciple describes for us the depth of intimacy we share with God because of the Father's love for us. This intimacy is destined, let us be clear, to only grow in its intensity and wonder throughout eternity. See what love the Father has bestowed on us, that we may be called children of God? And indeed, that's what we are. We are God's children. And yet, St. John goes on to say, what we shall be has not even yet been revealed. We do know that when it is revealed, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is. It is the love of God, my friends, that sustains us in our relationship with God. And this in the face of the liar spoken of in our last reading, and even our own failures. For we have an advocate, Jesus, who restores us to the heart of the Father's love. There is, too, as we have already pondered, the anointing. The rhythm of this intimacy with God is again given such precious expression by Fr. Ignace de la Poterie. I really must share this with you. He says, quote, it is through the action of the Spirit that we are enabled to recognize our union with God, because it is the Spirit who makes us keep the commandments. In other words, Fr. de la Poterie goes on, it is under the influence of the Spirit that we are enabled to believe and to love, and by this we know ourselves to be in communion with God, close quote. This is the rhythm of the Christian life. God has loved us. God's love has been made visible in the incarnation of His Son, Jesus Christ. There we touch and are touched by God's love. Jesus in turn has imparted to us an anointing, the Holy Spirit. As we surrender our lives increasingly to the movement of the Spirit, we are conformed to the Son in His love of the Father. We are made, that is, children of God, filled with the light and love of God. Once again, dear friends, let's open our hearts and minds to the Word as we read the passage a second time. Be sensitive to that movement of the anointing within, that Spirit drawing you in your mind, in your heart, to a particular word or phrase or image in the passage that directs you, that guides you to the Father. We read again 1 John chapter 2 verse 29 through chapter 3 verse 6. If you consider that God is righteous, you also know that everyone who acts in righteousness is begotten by Him. See what love the Father has bestowed on us that we may be called the children of God? Yet so we are. The reason the world does not know us is that it did not know Him. Beloved, we are God's children now. What we shall be has not yet been revealed. We do know that when it is revealed we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is. Everyone who has this hope based on Him makes himself pure, as He is pure. Everyone who commits sin commits lawlessness, for sin is lawlessness. You know that He was revealed to take away sins, and in Him there is no sin. No one who remains in Him sins. No one who sins has seen Him or known Him. Can I be so bold now as to encourage you? Lean in most intentionally to the love of God for you. Not to be sure under your own willpower, nor the emotional intensity you can somehow muster up under your own efforts. No, it's not what I'm talking about. Rather consent to the movement of the Spirit within you. Holy Spirit, I surrender to your work in me. Move my heart, my mind, all the emotions, thoughts, energies within me toward the Father in affection, love, and trusting obedience. And friends, what a joy to share the Gospel with you. 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