Christmas Weekday
(I John 5:5-13; Luke 5:12-16)
There is a story about a young man who told his girlfriend that he would do anything for her. He said he would climb a mountain or swim a sea if she asked him. The young woman then requested that he accompany her to the library Friday night because she had to study. He responded that he would do it but that he was busy at that time.
Like the young woman, God does not expect us to do momentous things for Him. He only wants us to believe in His son Jesus Christ. Of course, it seems very difficult to believe when others belittle faith -- when, for example, a professor speaks of religion as myth and the whole class nods their heads or when life’s sorrows make us want to abandon faith rather than conform to the Church’s moral doctrine.
The reading from the First Letter of John gives us reasons for believing. The apostle tells us that the water of Baptism that we undergo to enter the Church, the Blood of the Eucharist that we receive at Mass, and the Spirit of truth which we perceive everyday in the love Christians show all testify to our belief that Jesus is our Lord and God. Perhaps these witnesses will not convince rationalists of our beliefs, but they carry us through the struggles we face in a secular world.
