Prayer of the Christmas season
Reading of the Word of God
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia
Glory to God in the highest
and peace on earth to the people he loves.
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia
1 John 4,11-18
My dear friends, if God loved us so much, we too should love one another. No one has ever seen God, but as long as we love one another God remains in us and his love comes to its perfection in us. This is the proof that we remain in him and he in us, that he has given us a share in his Spirit. We ourselves have seen and testify that the Father sent his Son as Saviour of the world. Anyone who acknowledges that Jesus is the Son of God, God remains in him and he in God. We have recognised for ourselves, and put our faith in, the love God has for us. God is love, and whoever remains in love remains in God and God in him. Love comes to its perfection in us when we can face the Day of Judgement fearlessly, because even in this world we have become as he is. In love there is no room for fear, but perfect love drives out fear, because fear implies punishment and no one who is afraid has come to perfection in love.
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia
Alleluia! Alleluia! Alleluia!
Alleluia! Alleluia! Alleluia!
Alleluia! Alleluia! Alleluia!
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia
"Since God loved us so much, we also ought to love one another." Gospel love is not just any love: it must have the same qualities, the same nature, the same passion as the love God has for us. We may wonder: how is it possible to experience such love if "no one has ever seen God"? Here is John's answer: 'If we love one another, God lives in us, and his love is perfected in us." In the prologue of his Gospel, the Apostle writes: "No one has ever seen God. It is God the only Son, who is close to the Father's heart, who has made him known" (Jn 1:18). It is Jesus who has made know to us the face of the Father. Indeed, looking at Jesus we can say with full reason: "God is love." Everything in Jesus speaks of a love that knows no limits. In this letter the apostle insists that if we love one another we abide in God, that is, we dwell in him as in a dwelling place, as in his house. In this house, in which we are called to live, we are united with one another by his Spirit, which the Father has poured into our hearts. If we remain in this love, we can keep his Word and love one another. And this is perfection. We are not perfect because we have no blemish, but because we allow ourselves to be embraced by God and his love that frees us from all fear, from all dread. In a world inhabited by so many fears, Christians are witnesses of a God who is Father, who loves all his children to the point of giving his first-born Son for the salvation of all.