{"id":2802,"date":"2020-12-30T16:06:02","date_gmt":"2020-12-30T15:06:02","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/predication.net\/?p=2802"},"modified":"2020-12-30T16:06:04","modified_gmt":"2020-12-30T15:06:04","slug":"awareness-of-responsibility-for-holiness","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/predication.net\/?p=2802","title":{"rendered":"Awareness of responsibility for holiness"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
Many are among those who said today: It is already after the holidays. This is even though our homes and churches are still adorned with trees and Christmas decorations. We return to our daily duties. So that we do not quickly forget the moments spent in peace, our resolutions, so that we do not quickly put off things for which we have prepared so much, let us stop at the words from today’s gospel.<\/h2>\n
“From his fullness, we have all attained grace after grace. For if Moses gave the law, grace and truth came by Jesus Christ “(Johannes 1: 16-17).<\/h2>\n
Today’s gospel is well known to us. It is the introduction to the Gospel of Johannes the Apostle. We have already read this introduction three times in the last days and today for the fourth time. For the first time at Holy Mass during the day on the feast of the Nativity. We also read these words on the feast of the Apostle John. The third time we said goodbye to the old year, we reached for John’s introduction again. This Sunday, the second in the Christmas period, presents this text to us for thought. Can he still contact us at the moment? What a line and a verse, the depth of words, the richness of thoughts. The deeper we delve into the text, then we find that there is no unnecessary word. John writes about the solemn moment of Christ’s coming into the world. John’s words seem incomprehensible at first hearing. Maybe someone will be filled with the feeling that the words seem to outgrow us. And yet; The Word-Logos fills our soul with peace when we think more carefully. John’s words work in us so that we feel the desire to say directly: That must have been the case from the beginning. Indeed, Jesus is an integral part of God the Father. We also feel the Holy Spirit and his power as we think about the text. His gifts feel directly to the touch. The text talks about life. From the words, you can feel the power, the strength, the challenge to take off. Such a perfect harmony of words, thoughts, as John gives them, could only occur after personal experience and in direct cooperation with the Holy Spirit. Thus, the word God, which hides in himself the beginning of everything and in which is every life that is the Light for man, this God became man, became like us according to the flesh, came among us, his, to show us what we would do have never been completed. As the author of these words, John has known Jesus since John the Baptist said of Jesus, “Behold, the Lamb of God” (Johannes 1:35). Then he departed from John the Baptist. John’s words about Jesus in the Gospels are much deeper and more convincing than in the three other evangelists who wrote about Jesus; why?<\/h2>\n
It can also be understood from the Gospel of St. Mark, who wrote of John: “And he suffered no man to follow him, save Peter, James, and James the brother of John” (Mark 5:37). This was the case with the Transfiguration (cf. Mk 5:37), in preparation for the Last Supper. (cf. Mk 9: 1-3). John himself wrote: “One of his disciples, whom Jesus loved, was quite at the chest of Jesus” (Johannes 13:23). These memories of John are so powerful and so vivid that, as an older man, he writes the gospel around the year 100, which is an expression of a significant address. And this is exactly what we feel today at the end of his introduction – the prologue, when he wants to ignite us directly to follow Jesus: \u201cFrom his fullness, we have all received grace after grace. For if Moses gave the law, grace and truth came by Jesus Christ “(Johannes 1: 16-17).<\/h2>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"