31 January 2019 - bro science

Saint John Bosco

Today's Readings

(Audio)

Is a lamp brought in to be placed under a bushel basket
or under a bed,
and not to be placed on a lampstand?

Jesus is the light of the world. He calls us to shine with his light and become lights of the world ourselves. He asks us to shine brightly as a city on a hill which cannot be hidden. Yet we tend to withdraw. We have the bushel basket close at hand and if it is taken for us we'll quickly move the light under our bed. But why? Why hide such a great light? The light also tends to reveal us as weak and flawed. It shows the power of God, to be sure, but only insofar as it shines through human weakness. Jesus calls us to make our peace with this now, to be ready to be revealed as frauds and hypocrites as long as the light he gives us is allowed to shine through.

For there is nothing hidden except to be made visible; 
nothing is secret except to come to light.

The Kingdom will be fully revealed to all eyes and ears eventually. And so too will we, at the last judgment. Let's not live lives of pretending to be better than we are by hiding from that which would reveal us. Let us instead welcome, as best we can, the full revelation of the Kingdom now. Then, on the last day, we are less likely to be surprised. Hopefully we've helped others to be ready as well.

Our weaknesses can weigh us down, even when we're fully transparent about them. The author of the letter to the Hebrews knows this. But this is one reason it is so important to have brothers and sisters with whom we can share our weaknesses. God intends them to be for us sources of strength.

We must consider how to rouse one another to love and good works.

Our brothers and sisters help us to keep our focus sharply on the reason for our hope.

Since through the Blood of Jesus 
we have confidence of entrance into the sanctuary 
by the new and living way he opened for us through the veil, 
that is, his flesh,
and since we have "a great priest over the house of God," 
let us approach with a sincere heart and in absolute trust, 
with our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience 
and our bodies washed in pure water.

It is only by the Blood of Jesus that we have grounds for hope. Let us join together as brothers and sisters encouraging one another to enter more into the assembly of the Church and not less, to reveal more of ourselves, rather than hide "and this all the more as you see the day drawing near."

Such is the race that seeks for him,
that seeks the face of the God of Jacob.