6 January 2023
Christmas Weekday
Beware of being overly passive in the spiritual life. “Whoever possesses (ὁ ἔχων, qui habet) the Son has life; whoever does not possess (ὁ μὴ ἔχων, qui non habet) the Son of God does not have life” (1 John 5:12). “To possess” is an active verb. It is an active subject who is doing the possessing. Of course, God already possesses all of time and space as its creator, sustainer, ruler and goal. God already possesses us, and that is of foremost importance. Over and above that, Jesus came to this Earth in order to give us something to hang on to, to possess: and that takes work. It is hard work to seek for God, to find Him, and to hold on to Him.
The work of possessing is itself a gift of God’s grace, the grace of active effort on our part. To pray upon waking and upon sleeping, to pray before meals and throughout the day, to look for signs of God’s love all around us, to make reparation for sins, both our own sins and those of others, to go to mass on Sundays and holy days of obligation, to examine our consciences and to confess our sins: all of these things are hard work. It is also holy work, work that many great men and women have done before us in past generations, and that lies open before us today. Ultimately, it becomes work that is itself its own reward: to possess God the Son.