Tuesday January 7, 2025

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When loving others is difficult, get in touch with God’s love for you.

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Good News Reflection for:

Tuesday after Epiphany
January 7, 2025

Today’s Prayer:

Even in the middle of the desert, if I’m by your side I find the abundant nourishment I need. Amen.

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Today’s Readings:

1 John 4:7-10
Ps 72: (11)1-4,7-8
Mark 6:34-44
bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/010725.cfm
USCCB Podcast of the Readings:
bible.usccb.org/podcasts/audio/daily-mass-reading-podcast-january-7-2025

Getting to know God better

Today’s first reading tells us that by loving others we come to know God. This means that when an irritating person angers us and we respond with an argument or retaliation or anything else unloving, we don’t know God well enough. If we knew him better, we’d be appalled at the idea of treating anyone that way, no matter what they’ve done.

When we fight off the impulse to strike back at those who hurt and dismay us, responding to every person in every situation with unconditional love, forgiveness, patience, and (if possible) an act of kindness, we gain a fuller understanding of God, for this is how he treats us, whether we deserve it or not.

Unconditional love does not mean that we tolerate evil. It means doing good to troublemakers while standing firm behind the boundaries of truth that keep us united to God. Our boundaries invite other people to trade up to a holier, healthier life. This is how God deals with our sinfulness; thus, by doing to others what the Lord does to us, we learn more about him. We develop a better understanding of how he rejects sin while embracing the sinner.

To understand God better, we must love those who are the most difficult to love, since God is Love Itself. When we categorize certain people as outside the realm of those whom we will love, this comes from our ignorance about God’s way of embracing diversity. By condemning them as unworthy of our attention and time, we use that as permission to ignore them and avoid them, which is so unlike God that this could only happen because we don’t know him.

God loves you and me so much that he doesn’t leave us in this mess of ignorance! As this scripture says, the Father gave us Jesus as an offering — an expiation — for our sins. When we fail to love everyone all the time, we’re relying on our feelings and our limited human ability to love, which is very inadequate. To succeed at love, we have to rely on the ability of Jesus to love. We have to let him supernaturally love others through us.

To succeed at love, we have to rely on what love truly is: It is God’s gift to us. He loves you so much that the Father sent the Son to take your sins upon himself in an awesome deed of great suffering and sacrifice. Such a powerful love never fails. When loving others is difficult, get in touch with God’s love for you. He wants to kiss your wounds and heal your heart and defend your goodness.

In today’s Gospel passage, Jesus multiplies the loaves and fish. It’s an excellent reminder that he can multiply our small ability to love and produce an over-abundance of love.

For more this, use our WordByte, “Lepers in our lives” @ wordbytes.org/passion-spirituality/lepers/.

© by Terry A. Modica, Good News Ministries

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