A Daily Reflection on the Scripture Readings at Mass…
“‘I know your works, your toil and your patient endurance, and how you cannot bear evil men but have tested those who call themselves apostles but are not, and found them to be false; I know you are enduring patiently and bearing up for my name’s sake, and you have not grown weary. But I have this against you, that you have abandoned the love you had at first. Remember then from what you have fallen, repent and do the works you did at first. If not, I will come to you and remove your lampstand from its place, unless you repent…’” (Revelation 2:2-5)
We in the United States will celebrate our annual Thanksgiving Day this week. We have so much to be thankful for, it is difficult to understand how easily we forget the great love God has poured out on us. Even in the midst of zealously practicing the faith it is all too easy to forget to love God and neighbor as we are commanded.
In the Book of Revelation, we read that the Lord instructed John to write a word of warning to the Church at Ephesus. Even though they worded in patient endurance, not bearing evil men, but bearing up for the sake of the Lord’s name, they had abandoned the love with which they had begun.
This is one of the all-important lessons of the Lord. All that we work for, all that we celebrate, all our prayer, devotion, and service must derive from an ever-deepening love of God and must be manifested in our love of one another.
Lord, grant us this grace to truly love you—and those you place in our lives—more and more each day.
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