The Eleventh Day of Christmas!
“Children, let no one deceive you. The person who acts in righteousness is righteous, just as He is righteous. Whoever sins belongs to the Devil…. In this way, the children of God and the children of the Devil are made plain; no one who fails to act in righteousness belongs to God, nor anyone who does not love his brother.” (NAB, 1JN 3:7-8, 10) Our righteousness is interior, flowing from the heart as a result of God’s abundant grace. Our actions and good works result from the desires and gifts which God has already given us through his salvific grace. Thus, our cooperation, our “yes” to God, and the assent of our will are not particularly exclusive to us as individuals, but are rather ultimately and fundamentally from the Creator himself. All that is good is from God, and the righteousness of his people is the glorification of his grace acting in love.
We are children of the Covenant of Love. Our redemption and salvation are a result of that same love, a deep and incomprehensible love according to which God sent his Only Son into the world, to complete His Passion so that we might receive mercy and forgiveness, atonement for our sins. It is the Love of God, a love like none other, that redeems us and continuously calls us to conversion and unity with him. We are to love our neighbor as Christ, to see Jesus in each other. True righteousness is revealed as we are conformed through his Law of Love and his Covenant of Communion to be Christ in our world, to be his act of love.
Lord, you love me with an unfailing love. All that I do, all of my gifts, and all of my good desires come from you through your grace. Thank you for choosing me, who is unworthy, but is made worthy by you. Allow me to see you in those around me, in my family and friends, in my coworkers and neighbors, and in the suffering, marginalized, and rejected of this world. I want to live your Law of Love; give me your grace. Amen.
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