The First Letter of John has been a favorite Scripture for years. It reminds me of the depths of God’s love in Jesus Christ and the call to allow grace to transform all of us in love. “God is love, and whoever remains in love remains in God and God in him. In this is love brought to perfection among us, that we have confidence on the day of judgment because as He is, so are we in the world” (1 Jn 4:16-17). This is the challenge, the call to each Christian. This is the grace that we need to pray for each day that “as He is, so are we in the world.”
Lord, give me the grace to live like Jesus in the world. Lord, make me a person who forgives my enemies. Lord, give me compassion for those who are bodily or mentally ill or handicapped. Lord, help me to be a friend of sinners and of those rejected by society. Lord, help me to not be afraid of those with power and authority but help me to call them to account when they judge wrongly. Lord, help me to go before You in prayer so that my heart and mind would be open to discernment, to the guidance of Your Holy Spirit. Lord, help me to serve others and not to count the cost. Help me to love as You love. Grant me this fearsome grace that Your love might transform a broken world. Grant this grace to all Christians so that as Jesus was in the world, so we also might be. Amen.
The First Letter of John goes on to remind us that through faith and baptism we are begotten by God, children of God and brothers and sisters to one another. “Everyone who loves the Father loves also the one begotten by Him” (5:1). In other words, we love not only the Father and the Son but all who are baptized into Christ. Sometimes this is not easy – so we need to ask God for the grace to forgive and to love. Such love is not a matter of feelings, but of concrete actions and caring. Clearly when the deacon St. Stephen was being stoned to death, he did not have tender feelings toward his executioners, but he did have compassion on them as he prayed, “Lord, do not hold this sin against them” (Acts 7:60).
“Whoever is begotten by God conquers the world. And the victory that conquers the world is our faith” (5:4). As is true both in this letter and in John’s Gospel, the world here does not mean creation – which is good – but human culture often distorted by selfishness and sin, by greed and lust, by pride and anger, and by other things that distort the image of God in us and in our view of one another.
Thus, we need to beg God that the seed of faith might grow into a life of love for all of our sisters and brothers, for all of our friends and all of our enemies. Then the image of Christ will shine in our lives so that the poor might be gladdened, the morally blind might recover their sight, the oppressed might go free, and the Gospel might go out to all the world. Then as He is, so will we be in the world.
Jesuit Father John Michalowski is the parochial vicar of St. Peter Church in Charlotte.