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Memorial of St. John Neumann
I John 3:22-4:6
Psalm 2: 7BC-8, 10-12A
Matthew 4:12-17, 23-25
Summary
Two central themes emerge from today’s scriptures: living the commandment of love and
becoming a light in the world.
Reflection
And his commandment is this:
we should believe in the name of his Son, Jesus Christ, and love one another just as he com-
manded us.
Those who keep his commandments remain in him, and he in them,
and the way we know that he remains in us is from the Spirit whom he gave us.
We are commanded to “
Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul
and with all your mind
” and to “
love one another just as he commanded us.”
To believe in
the name of God’s Son is to live in God’s love, and to love one another is to live in the prom-
ise that comes from the blessing of God’s love. To live in the reality of God’s love, not only
in words, is the call to live in truth. That is, we must actively live out the commandment of
Love.
As we live out God’s love, we are called to live “from the Spirit whom he gave to us.” Our
lives bear the fruit of God’s Spirit. Paul affirms this so robustly:
“The fruit of the Spirit is
love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. Against
such there is no law”
(Gal 5:22-23). In this we are led by the Spirit: to believe and to love…
two parts of the one reality of living in Christ. As such, we are called to be Beloved Disciples
centered in Jesus Christ, who came to this world to serve and not be served.
In today’s Gospel, we see the initiation of Christ’s ministry on earth. In his teaching, in his
preaching, and in his ministry of healing,
he announces and reveals God’s light in a
dark world. Jesus was a light in his mes-
sage, his ministry, and his call. He re-
vealed God to others. Similarly, we live
in a world that is blinded by the social
darkness of “self-absorption” and
“egotism”. As his followers, we too are
to carry that message, ministry, and call
to the world. Just as Christ, we are
charged to be the “light” of the world.
Such a call may sound overwhelming,
but it does not have to be so. There are