Daily Retreat 01/02/06

2006 Jan 2 Mon: Basil the Great and Gregory Nazianzen, bps, drs M

1 Jn 2:22-28/Ps 97(98)/Jn 1:19-28

From today’s readings: "Anyone who denies the Son does not have the Father, but whoever confesses the Son has the Father as well.... All the ends of the earth have seen the saving power of God.... I baptize with water; but there is One among you whom you do not recognize, the One who is coming after me, whose sandal strap I am not worthy to untie."

Lies and deceptions

The moral implications of Christian faith are pretty clear - we can hardly call ourselves Christians if we don’t pursue righteousness of action. But faith is also a call to embrace the fullness of Truth - in our pluralistic society, we forget that we can stray from our faith not just by implicating ourselves in evil actions, but also by embracing false teachings.

St. John is particularly emphatic in warning readers against errors in teaching. In his day, as in ours, many compromise orthodox belief in Jesus in order to harmonize with other popular opinions. For instance, there is the false notion that Jesus is just one of many ways to salvation - those who hold this notion, have little zeal in sharing their faith because they think that an atheist or pagan can be saved without Christ. While Jesus Himself taught that it is possible to attain eternal life without explicit knowledge of Him (cf. Matthew 25), such people are nevertheless still saved through Christ’s merit, so leading atheists and pagans to the awareness of Christ is still the most invaluable assistance to salvation.

That’s just one common error leading people astray - there are many such "antichrists." How do you and I avoid falling into such errors? The Splendor of the Truth of our faith calls for constant effort on our part - ongoing prayer, meditation, and study, so that our personal understanding of our faith is continually enriched and kept pure from the dross of all error!