Daily Retreat 05/12/07
2007 May 12 Sat: Easter Weekday/ Nereus and Achilleus, mts/ Pancras, mt
Acts 16: 1-10/ Ps 99(100): 1b-2. 3. 5/ Jn 15: 18-21
From today's readings: "Day after day the churches grew stronger in faith and increased in number.... Let all the earth cry out to God with joy.... If you belonged to the world, the world would love its own; but because you do not belong to the world, and I have chosen you out of the world, the world hates you."
Getting Along with the World
The inspired authors of holy scripture all assumed that future readers would be able to make common sense distinctions, but extremely literal approaches to scripture study run the risk of collapsing such differentiations. For example, particularly in the 4th Gospel, the word "world" is used in two quite different contexts. In the first case, "world" simply denotes the whole theater of redemption, e.g.,"For God so loved the world.... God did not send the Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world might be saved through Him" (John 3:16-17).
But, in addition to that neutral connotation, in other contexts, "world" is decidedly negative. Consider, for instance, the words of Jesus to His disciples as the Last Supper:
"If you belonged to the world, the world would love its own; but because you do not belong to the world, and I have chosen you out of the world, the world hates you" (John 15:19). Here, "world" means everything opposed to Jesus, the whole temporal, material, and secular spirit that overlooks or rejects anything authentically eternal, spiritual, and supernatural.
A good part of the challenge of Christian living consists of honing the proper balance of attitude and conduct toward the "world" in each sense of the word. "God so loved the world...." - and so we too are called to love everyone in the world and rejoice in the whole beauty of creation. "Because you do not belong to the world..." - so we, like Christ Himself, need to reject the worldly spirit of secularism in order to focus always and in all ways on the heavenly world that does not pass away.
Acts 16: 1-10/ Ps 99(100): 1b-2. 3. 5/ Jn 15: 18-21
From today's readings: "Day after day the churches grew stronger in faith and increased in number.... Let all the earth cry out to God with joy.... If you belonged to the world, the world would love its own; but because you do not belong to the world, and I have chosen you out of the world, the world hates you."
Getting Along with the World
The inspired authors of holy scripture all assumed that future readers would be able to make common sense distinctions, but extremely literal approaches to scripture study run the risk of collapsing such differentiations. For example, particularly in the 4th Gospel, the word "world" is used in two quite different contexts. In the first case, "world" simply denotes the whole theater of redemption, e.g.,"For God so loved the world.... God did not send the Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world might be saved through Him" (John 3:16-17).
But, in addition to that neutral connotation, in other contexts, "world" is decidedly negative. Consider, for instance, the words of Jesus to His disciples as the Last Supper:
"If you belonged to the world, the world would love its own; but because you do not belong to the world, and I have chosen you out of the world, the world hates you" (John 15:19). Here, "world" means everything opposed to Jesus, the whole temporal, material, and secular spirit that overlooks or rejects anything authentically eternal, spiritual, and supernatural.
A good part of the challenge of Christian living consists of honing the proper balance of attitude and conduct toward the "world" in each sense of the word. "God so loved the world...." - and so we too are called to love everyone in the world and rejoice in the whole beauty of creation. "Because you do not belong to the world..." - so we, like Christ Himself, need to reject the worldly spirit of secularism in order to focus always and in all ways on the heavenly world that does not pass away.
posted by FrPitstick | 5/04/2007
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