EXPOSING OUR DEEDS TO THE LIGHT OF CHRIST - 04/27/22 (Wednesday of the Second Week of Easter)

John 3:17-18,20-21

17 For God sent the Son into the world, not to condemn the world, but that the world might be saved through Him. 18 He who believes in Him is not condemned; he who does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God.

20 For every one who does evil hates the light, and does not come to the light, lest his deeds should be exposed. 21 But he who does what is true comes to the light, that it may be clearly seen that his deeds have been wrought in God.

For the full readings, click here: 

https://www.ewtn.com/catholicism/daily-readings

Blessed Wednesday! God the Father sent His only begotten Son for the salvation of the world. Our purpose in life is to be united with God in eternal happiness. However, why is not everyone in heaven? Why do some people end up in hell? Although it's true that the gift of salvation is offered to everyone, not everyone accepts this gift from our Lord. Not everyone believes in Christ and in His teachings in the Catholic Church despite the fact that our Lord died for us. 

The lack of belief in Jesus is not merely an intellectual rejection of the Truth. When we commit grave sins, it means that we do not believe in the commandments of God, in His mercy and in His goodness. We are endangering our souls when we continue with our grave sins because through our deeds, we are saying to God that we do not want to be with Him in heaven, and we want to offend Him for the sake of the satisfactions due to our sins. Why do some people hesitate to reflect on their faults and repent for them? As mentioned by our Lord, evil hates the light. Sometimes, in our life, we do not want to ponder on our actions that are wrong because we feel hurt when we see that we are not perfect. It's uncomfortable to discover that we are not the "good" person we envisioned ourselves to be. This is why some people do not want to open up to our Lord their sins in their prayers.

We are the children of light. If we want to claim our identity and be saved from the darkness of our sins, we should come to Jesus, the light of the world. He is inviting us to expose our deeds to His truth for us to seek His forgiveness and do what is pleasing in His eyes. We can do this by acknowledging our brokenness and weaknesses as we examine our conscience. We should accept that we are weak sinners who are always in need of God's mercy. When we are aware of the sins we commit, let's ask for the grace and guidance from our Lord for us to know our faults and the strength to do the resolutions He wants us to make. What are the root causes of our sins? What are the tendencies that make us sin and fall to pride? It is only by seeking the light of Christ that we can be aware of our shortcomings, and persevere in our virtues, especially in humility. 

As we live our faith as Catholics, we glorify God by our actions. This is why He wants to cleanse us from our sins and imperfections. If we desire to be the reflection of the light of Jesus, our good works should not be tainted by pride and by other impurities. Also, God wants us to examine ourselves every night for us to be aware of God's presence and the times we do not act in accordance to His will. May we never forget to go to the sacrament of confession because in this sacrament, Jesus will banish all of our sins, especially our grave sins, in our souls by the light of His mercy. Only the light of our Lord will protect us from the darkness of error and restore our true dignity as His children. 

 Amen +

 

Jesus, Mary, and Joseph, be with us always until the hour of our death. Amen. +

 

May the Lord + bless us, protect us from all evil and bring us to everlasting life. Amen. +  

Reflection by: Dominic