Thurs., Jan. 7: 1 John 4:19–5:4; Luke 4:14-22a

This is the commandment we have from him: Those who love God must love their brothers and sisters also. God’s love is generative and organic, inspiring us to love all things in turn. To know God is to love all that God loves and has created. Yet we fool ourselves into thinking otherwise. We make ex­cuses; we see others as not measuring up, not deserving love. We judge their behavior in order to rationalize and jus­tify our own unloving behavior. But there really is no way around it: God has commanded that we love one another, no matter what. Let us distinguish the sin from the sinner when our brothers and sisters behave badly and see that this, in fact, is when they most need for us to be channels of God’s love.

*For the grace to love those who are hard to love, we pray.