Scripture:
2 John 4-6
Luke 17:26-37
Reflection:
Just the other day I had an x-ray done of my left foot in order to see if I had torn a tendon while doing some steep climbing (crazy things like that seem to happen these days in my older years!) X-rays are amazing things aren’t they? Imagine seeing beneath the surface, through muscle and flesh, nerves and ligaments, all the way down to the bone! What a great thing to have x-ray vision! It struck me as I was reading our scripture passages for today that once in a while God’s holy word is much like an x-ray, too. It cuts right through to the bone, giving us a view below the surface, and revealing for us a message that is so crisp and clear that we can only be amazed at the way the Lord shares his divine plan with us.
Today is one of those days. In the second letter of John we are told that what it means to love is not something obscure or hidden at all. In fact, to love as God wants us to love means only one thing: to walk according to God’s commandments, loving God above all else and, as we remember so well, loving our neighbor as our very self. If we do this we will be living in love, and if we live in love, we will possess the very living presence of God and God’s Holy Spirit. Surely it is the certainty and joy that comes from living in God’s love that makes Luke’s Gospel warnings about the end of time something not to be feared but rather, a future to be embraced and looked forward to with eagerness and hope.
Fr. Pat Brennan, CP is the director of Mater Dolorosa Passionist Retreat Center, Sierra Madre, California.