Meditation Minute

My Dearest Brothers and Sisters in Christ:

“For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world might be saved through him.”

Gospel Reading: John 3:16-21

God so loved the world that he gave his only-begotten Son, so that everyone who believes in him might not perish but might have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world might be saved through him. Whoever believes in him will not be condemned, but whoever does not believe has already been condemned, because he has not believed in the name of the only-begotten Son of God. And this is the verdict, that the light came into the world, but people preferred darkness to light, because their works were evil. For everyone who does wicked things hates the light and does not come toward the light, so that his works might not be exposed. But whoever lives the truth comes to the light, so that his works may be clearly seen as done in God.

In today’s Gospel reading, we hear one of the most popular bible verses of all – “For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son.” God sent his son Jesus not to condemn us, but to save us from our sins. He sent his Son, to suffer and die for us so that on the third day He would rise again to save us from the fires of Hell. He came to save us from the darkness. It is in the revelation of the resurrection that we understand our the final eternal joy. Jesus is the eternal light that came into the world to show us the way. Because of the original sin of Adam, the gates of heaven were closed. Because of Jesus, the gates are reopened to allow us into the kingdom of heaven. Unfortunately, darkness still lurks in the world. Jesus tells us that “people preferred darkness to light, because their works were evil.” This is still the case today. How many times do we hear about the evil that inflicts society. Greed and envy run rampant in businesses at the expense of the common worker. We look at the economic condition of the world today and it is not the fault of God, but the fault of our own greed and lust. Some would like us to think that what is happening is punishment from God, but in reality, it is purely the fault of the sinfulness of man himself. Poverty and hunger still have a strong grip on a large part of the world. “For everyone who does wicked things hates the light and does not come toward the light, so that his works might not be exposed.” For us to find the light, we must reveal the sins which have kept us in the darkness. To find Christ, we must be willing to dispel the things which prevent us from finding the gate. This passage is all about right judgment. We chose the things we love. We either love the darkness or we love the light. If we chose the light, we chose the glory of God. What we love is the clearest window into our soul. “But whoever lives the truth comes to the light, so that his works may be clearly seen as done in God.”

An example of the darkness in the world is the ongoing religious strife. Just last Sunday Osama Bin Laden was shoot and killed due to his religious extremism. While I am not here to judge the justification of this action by the men that killed him or to deny it necessity, but I feel that our response to this event would not find favor in light today’s Gospel. Celebrating the unnatural end of anybodies life is sinful. Instead of celebrating his death, we should be saddened by the unnatural ending of the human dignity within the man. We should be saddened by the fact that his life had to be taken and that we had to take this action to preserve the human dignity of others. We should pray for God to have mercy on his soul and those of his followers who inflict the same terrorism in the world. Jesus asks us to love our neighbors and most importantly our enemies. We are not to celebrate his death, but be deeply saddened by his life. We should have the same response that Blessed John Paul the Great had to the person who shot and almost killed him. We should reach out with compassion to the human dignity of the man no matter how grave the sins of the man. Our response to situations like this truly defines our true Christianity.

A Simple Prayer

Christ Jesus, you are gift which saves us from our sins.

You are the light which leads us to the gate.

Strengthen our will so we can find the light of God.

And gives us the strength to love our enemies.

Yours in Christ

Michael Marcon