The Mark of a Christian Community

WORD 2day: Christmas Octave - December 29, 2023

1 John 2: 3-11; Luke 2: 22-35

One of the earliest marks of a Christian community, which holds good even today or especially today, is that it was a Contrast Community! They were called and commissioned to remain marks of a contrast, to stand out from the rest of the society, that they may call the entire humanity to a particular way of life: the way that is highlighted in the Word today - the way of the Light. The True Light was coming into the world - reminds us John in his Gospel prologue (Jn 1:9).   

Hatred, violence, vengeance, aggression, terrorism, manipulation and exploitation abound today in forms varied and vicious. The tendencies of anti-religiosity, the pressures of self-assertion, the obligation to challenge the established order or convention... these are some of the daily events we experience today in the world. There is constantly a question that resounds everywhere - who is right and who is wrong?

The Word today gives us a neat criterion to judge who is right and who is not: the one who loves one's brothers and sisters is in light. And whoever says he or she is in light, yet hates one's brother or sister, is still in darkness (Cf. 1 Jn 2: 8, 9); he or she is a liar! What matters is love, true love, true love of one's brothers and sisters, which does not make my self-centered desires and greed, priorities over the good of the other and the good of all.

Jesus the light can never cause hatred or division. There can be people who claim to be interpreting the Light but actually cause division, hatred and rivalry. Let them be certain, says the Word, that they are still in darkness. Let love, the light of life, guide us on as we come closer to the end of this year, that we may grow constantly to be children of the Light.