1 John 4: 11-18
Beloved, if God so loved us, we also must love one another. No one has ever seen God. Yet, if we love one another, God remains in us, and his love is brought to perfection in us.
This is how we know that we remain in him and he in us, that he has given us of his Spirit. Moreover, we have seen and testify that the Father sent his Son as savior of the world. Whoever acknowledges that Jesus is the Son of God, God remains in him and he in God. We have come to know and to believe in the love God has for us.
God is love, and whoever remains in love remains in God and God in him. In this is love brought to perfection among us, that we have confidence on the day of judgment because as he is, so are we in this world. There is no fear in love, but perfect love drives out fear because fear has to do with punishment, and so one who fears is not yet perfect in love.
Dawg's thought:
Today's prayer intention is for those who are providing relief for those who are suffering from the Indian Ocean tsunamis, that God gives them the grace to be generous through His abundance.
Today's reading refers to perfection in love. I am part of a "virtues" mailing list, and through grace, this month's virtue is "perfection." Yesterday's quote from St. Francis de Sales is a perfect match for today's reading, and offers a great opportunity for reflection:
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I hear speak of nothing but perfection, but I see it practiced by just a few. Each pictures perfection in his own way. Some see it in simplicity of dress, some in austerity, some in almsgiving, some in frequenting of the Sacraments; others see it in prayers, others in passive contemplation, and still others in those freely - given or gratuitous graces - but they all err, taking the effects for the cause and the means for the end. I, for my part, know of no other perfection than that of loving God with one's whole heart and one's neighbor as oneself. He who conceives any other type of perfection deceives himself, because the accumulation of all the other virtues without this love is nothing but the amassing of stones. And if we do not immediately and perfectly enjoy this treasure of holy love, it is our own fault, because we are too parsimonious and hesitant with God, and we do not give ourselves entirely to Him as did the Saints. - St. Francis de Sales
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Take care and God Bless.
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