GOD'S LOVE FOR THE WORLD

 


WEDNESDAY, SECOND WEEK OF EASTER   

Acts 5:17-26; Ps 34:2-9; Jn 3:16-21

The Revelation of God’s Love

The Son of Man revealed to Nicodemus the love the Father bestowed on the world, on all peoples, by sending his Only Begotten Son to come in human form. The coming of the Son of God in our nature has reconnected heaven and earth, or brought the kingdom of God to us, as Jesus explained in the passage of yesterday. We enter the kingdom of God through the knowledge of God’s will for us. The revelation of God’s will by the Son of Man opens the door of communion with God. This door was closed before the Incarnation of the Son of God. Jesus stated this yesterday when he said that no one has knowledge of God the Father, for no one has been to heaven, except the Son of Man who is in heaven. The Son of Man is in heaven even while he remained with us on earth because of the union of his human nature and the Eternal Word in the same Person of the Trinity. So, while on earth, he reveals to us the will of God. We enter into life eternal by believing and doing the will of the Father as revealed by the Son of Man. By his passion, death, and resurrection, he established his Church as his body to guard this door into eternal life by the teaching of the heavenly truths and celebration of the mysteries in the Sacraments. He demonstrates this when he gave them power to forgive and retain sins in his name, after he had given them the Holy Spirit.    

The faith we express in the Son of Man opens our hearts to receive the cleansing effect of his precious blood shed in his passion and death. The light of this heavenly truth illumines our minds to see the love of the Father in what the Son endured for us; the same love inflames our hearts with the love of the Son and the Father. Jesus refers to this in these words: “God loved the world so much that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not be lost but may have eternal life.” It follows then that the passion and death of the Son of Man is the greatest revelation of the Father’s love for us. Beholding the crucifixion of the Son of Man breaks the resistance of our hearts and the chains of sin and evil holding us in the darkness of unbelief. To fail to consider these paschal events is to close one’s heart to God’s love and salvation. “On these grounds is sentence pronounced: that though the light has come into the world, men have shown they prefer darkness to the light because their deeds were evil.” The preference of evil over good, darkness over light, shows how evil a heart is, and its deserving of condemnation. God’s condemnation is therefore a confirmation of our personal choices and preferences. We make these choices daily, thereby deciding our eternal dwelling. The choice of light at every turn is our gradual entrance into the kingdom of God.

God gives us the Holy Spirit to protect and guide us in these daily choices. With the Holy Spirit, the apostles demonstrated to the Jewish elders and religious leaders the divine authority in the name of Jesus Christ, the Nazarene, whom they betrayed and killed. But they turned a blind eye to the light and truth; they chose to act in ignorance of what has been shown to them. “The high priest intervened with all his supporters from the party of the Sadducees. Prompted by jealousy, they arrested the apostles and had them put in the common jail.” Jealousy, instead of desire to do the will of God, prompted their treatment of the disciples, as it prompted their betrayal and crucifixion of the Son of Man. Self is a difficult enemy to overcome; without the grace of God, it is impossible to see how sinful we really are. So, we must always look to God for light and guidance. The psalmist exhorts us to look to the Lord for help always. “Look towards him and be radiant; let your faces not be abashed. This poor man called, the Lord heard him and rescued him from all his distress.” It is by looking to the Cross of our Lord, contemplating his passion and death for our salvation, that our hearts really become inflamed with the love of God in Jesus Christ. Therefore, the Church sets the memorial and the reality of his passion before us always in the celebration of the Eucharist. May our hearts be on fire with his love as we contemplate these mysteries.

Let us pray: As we recall year by year the mysteries by which, through the restoration of its original dignity, human nature has received the hope of rising again, we earnestly beseech your mercy, Lord, that what we celebrate in faith we may possess in unending love. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, God, for ever and ever. 

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