Daily Retreat 01/05/06

2006 Jan 5 Thu: Christmas Weekday/ Bl André Bessette, r

1 Jn 3: 11-21/ Ps 100: 1b-2. 3. 4. 5/ Jn 1: 43-51

From today’s readings: "Everyone who hates his brother is a murderer, and you know that no murderer has eternal life remaining in him.... Let all the earth cry out to God with joy..... Amen, amen, I say to you, you will see the sky opened and the angels of God ascending and descending on the Son of Man."

Love and Life

In general, the tendency is to think of MATTER as distinct from ENERGY, although intuitively, one supposes that the two notions are certainly somehow related. Albert Einstein’s simple yet most profound equation, E= mc², calculates the fundamental equivalency of ENERGY and MATTER. As Einstein explained, "It followed from the special theory of relativity that mass and energy are both but different manifestations of the same thing -- a somewhat unfamiliar conception for the average mind."

St. John’s Gospel and letters are favorites of many Christians because of the ardent and sublime verses which extol and explain Christian LOVE. But St. John also returns time and time again to the theme of LIFE. It’s intuitive, of course, to recognize that LIFE and LOVE are intimately related realities, but St. John declares certain formulae which insists that the two notions are marked with a fundamental equivalency, e.g.:

"We know that we have passed from death to life because we love our brothers. Whoever does not love remains in death. Everyone who hates his brother is a murderer, and you know that no murderer has eternal life remaining in him. The way we came to know love was that He laid down His life for us; so we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers."