The Gospel of St. John the Baptist
Praise be to Jesus in the air.
We note in the first reading,
and it's actually been for
these past two days,
St. John
is speaking of love.
And at the end of this Gospel passage,
I'm sorry, this first reading,
we just heard
St. John points out
that love, true love, drives out fear.
There's nothing to be afraid of.
Because, as he points out earlier,
true love is God. God is love, he says.
And he who abides in God, a God,
and God in him, abides in love, and God in him.
I'm sorry, he who abides in love, abides in God, and God in him.
He's with God.
God is with him.
And there's nothing to fear.
And that is the emphasis on the Gospel passage we just heard.
Disciples,
we have not fully understood what has just taken place.
The incident just before this one
was that of the
breaking of the loaves,
the multiplication of the loaves,
which of course prefigures the Eucharist,
which is, again, our Lord God with us,
truly present in the Eucharist.
Therefore, with God,
as God is with us, our Lord is with us,
we need not be afraid.
If the disciple is not
understanding fully everything,
in fact,
the evangelist here tells us, on the contrary,
their hearts were hardened.
They still don't understand when they see our Lord coming to them
in the middle of the night,
and they are terrified.
They think they're seeing a ghost.
They're terrified.
And our Lord immediately proceeds to calm them.
Fear not.
It is I.
You see, with our Lord,
there is nothing to be afraid of.
Then the question remains,
do we walk with him?
Are we always in his presence?
Or,
do we forget his presence
and go on about the very worries of our day?
Now what am I going to do?
Why is it working this way for me?
Why is everything falling apart, or seem to be?
Have we forgotten him?
He is with us.
He will lead us and guide us.
Do we remind ourselves of that?
Or, as one of my own co-workers once told me,
in my own busy work day,
every once in a while, look up.
He hears me whispering to our Blessed Lady, of course.
Look up and tell her how much you love her.
The same thing with our Lord.
Look up every once in a while
and tell her how much you love him.
He is with us.
He is guiding us.
He is leading us.
We need not be afraid.
Praise be Jesus in the name.