“You belong to this world,
John 8:23
but I do not belong to this world.”
Reflection
Jesus tells the Pharisees that he is going away, and they will not be able to follow, for they will die in their sin. He says they belong to this world, while he does not. They will realize when they lift up the Son of Man that he is I AM, and does what the Father has taught him.
Do we belong to this world, like the Pharisees, or to the one above? As baptized Christians, we recognize that this earth is not our true home – heaven is. Yet sometimes we act as if the earth is all we will ever know, and pay court to its many pleasures, even if it causes us to sin.
When we do this, we forget that Jesus does not belong to this world either; he came to redeem and save us, but returned to his heavenly home, where he eagerly awaits our arrival. Christ tells us explicitly that he is the Son of Man, he is I AM. We can spend our lives hoping in him, whose promises never fail, and not take part in the sin of the world.
Saint of the Day
St. Oscar Arnulfo Romero: 1917 – 1980
| “No soldier is obliged to obey an order counter to the law of God. No one has to comply with an immoral law. It is the time now that you recover your conscience and obey its dictates rather than the command of sin.” St. Oscar Romero |
The Healing Word 