GOD Is Light

"We heard HIS message, from HIM, and announce it to you: GOD is light and there is no darkness in HIM.

If we say we are in fellowship with HIM, while we walk in darkness, we lie, instead of being in truth.  But if we walk in the light, as HE is in the light, we are in fellowship with one another; and the blood of JESUS, the Son of GOD, purifies us from all sin.

If we say, 'We have no sin,' we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.  If we confess our sins, HE, who is faithful and just, will forgive us our sins, and cleanse us from all wickedness.

If we say that we do not sin, we make GOD a liar, HIS word is not in us.

My little children, I write to you, that you may not sin.  But if anyone sins, we have an intercessor with the FATHER, JESUS CHRIST, the Just One.  HE is the sacrificial victim, for our sins, and the sins of the whole world." - 1 John 1:5-2:2 

(But if we walk in the light: this is the Christian life.

Over and beyond other truths which people discover, there is a light [an evidence or a presence] which is total Truth and which cannot be divided: one is or is not in the light.  It does not give knowledge directly, but affects the whole person who acts, lives, and walks in the Light.  Those walking in faith discover this light and find themselves freed from many obstacles:

- the partial vision of one who is enthusiastic for a cause but ignores other issues that are equally important, of one who orders one part of his life but leaves in disorder other parts;

- the restlessness of one who does not have a goal and who silences his doubts by throwing himself into frantic activity;

- the sectarianism that prevents us from being "universal brothers and sisters."

Little by little faith opens for us a global vision of human reality.  The first criterion to know if we are walking in the light: have we given up sin?  John here denies what certain people say: "Since we are Christians, we are united to GOD and so the sins of the body are not important."

John declares that if we decide for GOD, we cannot continue to surrender to sin.  Obviously, no one is without sin; we all need the salvation of CHRIST; but forgiveness itself compels us even more to stay away from sin.

John invites us to confess our sins to GOD, that is to say, to admit humbly before GOD that we have sinned, but with confidence in HIS kindness.  If this attitude were not present, the sacrament of "confession" would be worthless.  On the other hand, confessing our sins in the sacrament of penance helps us keep our hearts open to GOD.

The second criterion for love of GOD: to obey the commandments that are summarized in love.  Do we perhaps pretend to know GOD and to believe?  If so, it must be measured by the love we have for others.

An old commandment, because it is the first one we learned in the Church; a new commandment, because the world must constantly, and in new ways, discover the power of love.)

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