Meditation Minute

My Dearest Brothers and Sisters in Christ:

“The one who comes from above is above all.”

Gospel Reading: John 3:31-36

The one who comes from above is above all. The one who is of the earth is earthly and speaks of earthly things. But the one who comes from heaven is above all. He testifies to what he has seen and heard, but no one accepts his testimony. Whoever does accept his testimony certifies that God is trustworthy. For the one whom God sent speaks the words of God. He does not ration his gift of the Spirit. The Father loves the Son and has given everything over to him. Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life, but whoever disobeys the Son will not see life, but the wrath of God remains upon him.

In today’s Gospel reading, Jesus defines the path to eternal life. We see a clear contrast between earthly ministry of the profits like John the Baptist and the heavenly ministry of Jesus the Messiah.  As the Messiah, Jesus possesses the fullness of truth through the love of his Father conveyed by the Holy Spirit.  This love conveyed by the Father through the Holy Spirit is the same grace that is poured out for us on earth.  His love is graciously and abundantly poured out and not held back,.  This grace can only come from our God and not from any earthly minister.

Christ said that He bore witness to the Holy Spirit yet man did not receive it. He tells us, “Whoever does accept his testimony certifies that God is trustworthy.” When we receive the grace of the Holy Spirit, He enables us to recognize God’s truth. But more importantly, “whoever disobeys the Son will not see life, but the wrath of God remains upon him.” Again, we are challenged to make a decision. We must choose between the light of the Holy Spirit or the eventual wrath of God. The light leads us to eternal life in heaven. But by avoiding the light, we will be judged harshly by God. We can accept eternal life or eternal death. We must consider the consequences of our decisions. We must consider whether the decision we make leads us to or away from eternal life. Through faith and reason, we can begin to unwrap the truth of God. Faith is exercised when we trust in God and we entrust ourselves to God.  Faith involves both the assent of the mind toward God and the consent of the will to obey his commandments.  You must exercise both; assent and consent.  This is the same as faith and faithfulness.  If we do not have faith, we exercise both unbelief and disobedience; we descend from our Father and deny him as Truth.  It is because of this that we deny Christ and justify our bad choices. We can eventually rationalize our actions to the point where we completely empty our soul of the grace which reveals God’s truth to us.

A Simple Prayer

Lord Christ, fill me with the Holy Spirit.

Allow the Holy Spirit to transform my life.

Allow the Holy Spirit to help me make good decisions.

Allow the Holy Spirit to lead me to life eternal.

Yours in Christ

Michael Marcon