Who is the liar but the one who denies that Jesus is the Christ? This is the antichrist, the one who denies the Father and the Son. No one who denies the Son has the Father; everyone who confesses the Son has the Father also. Let what you heard from the beginning abide in you. If what you heard from the beginning abides in you, then you will abide in the Son and in the Father.
And this is what he has promised us, eternal life. I write these things to you concerning those who would deceive you. As for you, the anointing that you received from him abides in you, and so you do not need anyone to teach you. But as his anointing teaches you about all things, and is true and is not a lie, and just as it has taught you, abide in him.
And now, little children, abide in him, so that when he is revealed we may have confidence and not be put to shame before him at his coming.
New Revised Standard Version, copyright 1989, by the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved. USCCB approved.
“Let what you heard from the beginning abide in you.” What do you remember from when you first learned about Jesus? Perhaps you think of childhood lessons about a shepherd and sheep, or maybe you have a more recent first experience of faith. What was it that made you realize and respond to God’s love?
Today we celebrate two saints from the Church’s first centuries who clarified and defended theological truths about God. Saints Basil the Great and Gregory Nazianzen remind us that knowledge and study are important. In our study, though, let’s not forget the heart of the matter. Every truth and detail we learn about God should lead us to the one truth of God’s love and God’s loving call for each of us to abide with God forever.
—Beth Franzosa teaches in the Religious Studies department at Brebeuf Jesuit Preparatory School.
Nothing is more practical than
finding God, than falling in Love
in a quite absolute, final way.
What you are in love with,
what seizes your imagination, will affect everything.
It will decide
what will get you out of bed in the morning,
what you do with your evenings,
how you spend your weekends,
what you read, whom you know,
what breaks your heart,
and what amazes you with joy and gratitude.
Fall in Love, stay in love,
and it will decide everything.
—Attributed to Pedro Arrupe, SJ
