Have you ever gone away from family for awhile and returned home to meet everyone again for a reunion? Suddenly despite how our experiences may have changed us, we are put right back into our familial stereo types and expectations. Have you considered if you were there within the temple seeing the son of the carpenter, one of your old playmates, or a cousin suddenly take up a scroll of Isiah, read it, and ending by stating that he was the fulfillment of the messianic passage. How would you react? You'd been taught to wait for the Messiah, and here is a person you know saying he is the Messiah. Luke tells us, "All spoke highly of him and were amazed at the gracious words that came from his mouth."
The first letter of St. John reminds us that all who love God also love one begotten by him, namely his Son, our Lord Jesus Christ. In doing so we love Christ and each other as Christ taught us. If we do not love each other, then don't we lie when we say we love God? It is sometimes hard to love each other. Hurt, deception, and killing can stop us and make it difficult to love each other. A man mentioned yesterday that it is difficult to love because he can't forgive. In the course of the liturgy he realized that he and we are being called to forgive. Sometimes that first step to forgiving is praying for those who have hurt us, he realized. Let us endeavor to take those small first steps that will unite us in love with Our Father in Christ.
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