Daily Retreat 11/14/08
2008 Nov 14 Fri: Ordinary Weekday
2 Jn 4-9/ Ps 118(119): 1. 2. 10. 11. 17. 18/ Lk 17: 26-37
From today’s readings: “Anyone who is so progressive as not to remain in the teaching of the Christ does not have God.... Blessed are they who follow the law of the Lord.... As it was in the days of Noah, so it will be in the days of the Son of Man...”
Even Shorter Letter
Yesterday, we read St. Paul’s shortest epistle, the Letter to Philemon. Today and tomorrow, the lectionary presents the Second and Third Letters of St. John, each of which is only half as long as Paul’s letter to Philemon!
2 John is addressed to “the chosen lady and her children.” The “lady” referred to here is probably a personification of a particular Church community, so “her children” are simply all of the Christians in that locale.
John begins by reiterating the commandment to love one another. Then he warns against “those who do not acknowledge Jesus Christ as coming in the flesh,” i.e., those who hedge on crucial aspects of the Incarnation, denying either that Christ really came corporeally in history, or that He will come again in His glorified body, or that His Incarnation has concrete implications for our own lives.
From even the first century, there have been those who are so snobbishly “progressive” that they reject orthodoxy as passé, preferring instead to creatively construct their own brand of christianity. But by doing so, they ignore John’s warning that “anyone who is so progressive as not to remain in the teaching of the Christ does not have God!”
2 Jn 4-9/ Ps 118(119): 1. 2. 10. 11. 17. 18/ Lk 17: 26-37
From today’s readings: “Anyone who is so progressive as not to remain in the teaching of the Christ does not have God.... Blessed are they who follow the law of the Lord.... As it was in the days of Noah, so it will be in the days of the Son of Man...”
Even Shorter Letter
Yesterday, we read St. Paul’s shortest epistle, the Letter to Philemon. Today and tomorrow, the lectionary presents the Second and Third Letters of St. John, each of which is only half as long as Paul’s letter to Philemon!
2 John is addressed to “the chosen lady and her children.” The “lady” referred to here is probably a personification of a particular Church community, so “her children” are simply all of the Christians in that locale.
John begins by reiterating the commandment to love one another. Then he warns against “those who do not acknowledge Jesus Christ as coming in the flesh,” i.e., those who hedge on crucial aspects of the Incarnation, denying either that Christ really came corporeally in history, or that He will come again in His glorified body, or that His Incarnation has concrete implications for our own lives.
From even the first century, there have been those who are so snobbishly “progressive” that they reject orthodoxy as passé, preferring instead to creatively construct their own brand of christianity. But by doing so, they ignore John’s warning that “anyone who is so progressive as not to remain in the teaching of the Christ does not have God!”
posted by FrPitstick | 11/11/2008
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