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1 Jn.3:18-24

5th Sunday of Easter, Year B – 2021

30 avril 2021
Nicole Gregoire
Aucun commentaire
Catégories: Anglophones et anglophiles
Mots-clés: 1 Jn.3:18-24, condemn, God knows, God understands, hearts, progress

We try to live as followers of Jesus.
We do our best to be faithful to what he asks from us.
We make special efforts to carry out what we believe is his will.
But . . .

But, when we look at the result of our efforts, we may lose heart.
We may feel discouraged at seeing the outcome of what we thought was our best…

If so, today’s message in the 2nd reading (1 Jn.3:18-24) is meant for us –
meant to give us comfort.

The apostle John writing to the first Christians assures them:

“If our hearts condemn us,
we know that God is greater than our hearts,
and he knows everything.”
 
What an encouraging thought!
What a truly wonderful reality: God knows, God understands!

God knows our inner feelings, he is aware of our good intentions.
He understands – so much better than we do – that we do not always succeed in doing what we would like to do.
We are not always able to be the person that we would like to become.
We are not yet the ‘ideal self’ that we want to be.

He knows that we are still on the way and… he walks on that way with us!
So, one more step today is what he accepts, ready to wait for what we see as our slow progress,
and not condemning us for it, simply walking with us.

Truly, God is greater than our hearts, and he knows everything.”

 

Note: Another reflection on a different theme is available in French at: https://image-i-nations.com/5e-dimanche-de-paques-annee-b-2021/

 

Source: Image: Quotefancy

5th Sunday of Easter, Year B

27 avril 2018
Nicole Gregoire
Aucun commentaire
Catégories: Anglophones et anglophiles
Mots-clés: 1 Jn.3:18-24, compassion of God, conscience, consolation, discouragement, Jn.12:47, Jn.3:17, mistakes and wrongdoing, salvation, tempted

At times, we may feel that we need some encouragement in our life as Christians.
We try to be faithful to God’s message.
We struggle to follow God’s way from day to day.
We strive for the kind of life we know he expects from us…
But, somehow, we feel we fall short of the ideal and we are perhaps tempted to get discouraged.

If so, the text of the 2nd reading of this Sunday (5th Sunday of Easter, Year B – 1 Jn.3:18-24) can give us some needed consolation.
In his first letter to the first Christians, the apostle John says:

“We… be able to quieten our conscience in his presence,
whatever accusations it may raise against us,
because God is greater than our conscience and he knows everything.”
 
In fact, John is repeating the message of Jesus – what he had said privately to Nicodemus:
“God sent his Son into the world not to condemn the world,
but so that through him the world might be saved.”   (Jn.3:17)

And what he had said openly to the Jews listening to him:
“I have not come to condemn the world but to save the world.” (Jn.12:47)

 We, human beings, can be strange people…
And so we are when we ‘create’ a vengeful and fearsome God intent on punishing us!

We make mistakes, we go astray, we may commit awful acts for which we are indeed guilty.
But what God wants from us is that we acknowledge our wrongdoing and our sin,
and that we return to him, the God of compassion and mercy.

That simple? Yes!
That wonderful, indeed!
And… absolutely TRUE!

Note: Another reflexion is available in French on a different theme at: https://image-i-nations.com/5e-dimanche-de-paques-annee-b/

Source: Images: CreatingGreatDay.com   Pinterest