Belovedness

Christmastide after Epiphany (Saturday, 12 January 2019)

1 John 5:14-21. Psalm 149:1-6, 9. John 3:22-30. (Please click the following link for the above readings http://www.usccb.org/bible/readings/011219.cfm.) 

“We know that we belong to God.”

We already belong to God. This is a profound statement of St John in today's first reading. And yet it is not easy to know or acknowledge that we belong to God.

It is easier to belong to a church than to truly belong to God. It is easier to belong to a culture or a tribe or a human group or organization than to deeply know that we belong to God. It is even easier to attend church services than quite simply to accept God who is everywhere, or to reverence the Real. Committing ourselves to accept God and Reality is not an easy task. Making this commitment would seem to consist in vigilance (being awake), and the desire and willingness to begin again and again. (The words BEGIN and BEING are spelt with the same letters.)

To discover that we belong to God is to discover that we are God's Beloved. That we are deeply loved and cared by God. To discover this our Belovedness is to realise that this world and this reality contains whatever I need at this moment. God provides for me more than I can provide for myself. He cares for me more than I can care for myself. He is more intimate to my being than I am to myself. This is to say that the world is okay, that I don't have to live in fear and anxiety. That God is the Master of this universe, He is in charge of my history.

Therefore, the world is good. God is good. God is for you. The world is for you, not against you. The world is not gloom and doom as our television channels and newspapers and “bad news” media project minute after minute. I’m not denying there is evil, injustice, war and violence, but that is not the whole picture. The true picture is that God loves the world, He rules the world with His love. The world is God’s, not of the terrorists or extremists or fundamentalists. Our God is the God of history. He is in control.

God is an expert in even using peoples’ sin for good, but those who refuse to see their dark side He cannot use! As we see in the gospels, Jesus himself is never upset at sinners. He’s only upset with people who don’t think they’re sinners. We need to discover God, and in Him our Belovedness.

In discovering God, then, we discover our true self. In discovering our Belovedness, we discover that we don't just belong to the world but also transcend it. Though we belong to the world, we truly belong to God—who is now here. This little “I am” doesn't just belong to this visible universe, but truly belongs to the invisible eternity of the great “I AM”—present here and now. This is my truest and deepest identity. This little moment of incarnation is all I am asked for, all I am asked to be. Just This!

Let our prayer moments be moments of intimacy with God and Reality to listen to God's own words, “You are my Beloved.” We are precious to Him. We are already His Beloved Children; we belong to God. This is why Christ, God's Son, became human at Christmas. To make us grasp that we are God's, that we are God's Sons and Daughters along with him.

When things are difficult and life is hard, remember who you are: you are a special person. You are precious. You are deeply loved by God and by all those who are with you.

“See what great love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are! We are children of God” (1 John 3:1-2).

For reflections on the gospel passage, please see "He must increase," https://anthuvanmaria.blogspot.com/2018/12/he-must-increase.html, and
also "Highways for God," http://anthuvanmaria.blogspot.com/2018/06/highways-for-god.html.