Monday 30 December

Sixth Day within the Octave of the Nativity of the Lord

1 John 2:12-17, Ps 95:7-10, Luke 2:36-40

Loving God’s world

St John, in his Gospel (3:16) says that “God so loved the world …” Yet, in his letter which we read today, he warns us “Do not love the world”. How can these be reconciled? Maybe this way: we are to love everything in the world that is of God, everything that is good; but we are to hate everything that is not of God. We are to love the world as God loves the world, to see it with God’s eyes, to feel it with God’s heart, and to reject and oppose all that is not of God both in ourselves and in others.