Saint Elizabeth Ann Seton, Religious
Saints Homilies • Sermon • Submitted • Presented
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· 17 viewsWhile many parts of the Christian family separate faith/belief from discipleship, in reality without living like Jesus, living righteously here is no reason to believe that the nature of God is in us, that we are part of the family. That is 1 John. The process is seen in John’s gospel where John’s disciples hear him describe Jesus and choose to commit to Jesus, i.e. become his disciples. live with Jesus and thereby pick up his way of life. For it means living likewise, spending time with Jesus including ongoing converse with Jesus in our daily life. Then we have a life with Jesus into which we can call others rather than letting them be on their own resulting in most becoming nominal believers.
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Transcript
Title
Title
Living with Jesus
Outline
Outline
I heard a protestant leader on a podcast a few days ago. He talked about belief, what we might call core right doctrine, as making one eternally right with God, but then argued for discipleship or following the teaching of Jesus as being woefully needed for abundant life on this earth. I mention this because this idea is so common among orthodox Protestants and in practice among many Catholics. But that is not what we find in the New Testament.
1 John points out that our behavior marks out whom we belong to
1 John points out that our behavior marks out whom we belong to
“The person who acts in righteousness is righteous, just as he is righteous. Whoever sins belongs to the devil, because the devil has sinned from the beginning.”
The reason for this is because our commitment to Jesus is not just believing that, i.e. the Creed, but allegiance to, i.e. the baptismal promises, that results through baptism in divine life in us; we become children of God.
I do not pretend to know where “the line” is, where living in sin shows that God’s “seed” or God’s nature is not in a person, but I know enough to pray hard if I do not see increasing signs of righteousness.
The process is seen in our gospel
The process is seen in our gospel
John the Baptist points out Jesus and says, “Behold the lamb of God.” Two of his disciples believe him, follow Jesus, and ask (politely) to become his disciples. They are accepted and start to live with Jesus, hear his teaching, see how he lives it, and live it out themselves. (This is why universities were not enough to form priests or religious, for they needed live-in seminaries and formation programs.)
Of course they brought their closest friends, in this case brothers, to Jesus, and in Andrew’s case he now articulates how he understood John, “We have found the Messiah.” They were also accepted of part of the Jesus family of God as indicated by Jesus’ renaming of Simon.
Sisters, the lesson is obvious
Sisters, the lesson is obvious
Yes, we need good theology about Jesus, but to become real members of the family we must commit to following him and becoming like him. And that takes time and being together.
Those who formed me most along my journey were those who shared parts of their life with me and spent time talking to me. Likewise, if we want to form virtuous Catholics, your students need to see you living virtues and listening to their questions about how to do that.
But even more deeply we must spend time with Jesus and let him form us, not just in our “holy hour” or times of worship, but through the day as we try to stay aware of his presence and ask him how to deal with this or that situation.
Then we will not be asking how close we are to the boundary, for it will be obvious to all that we have been with Jesus and we are children with his nature in us.
