Memorial of Saint Elizabeth Ann Seton, Religious
I love St John’s letters because his writing is so clear. As the saying goes, there’s no fuzz on it. The admonitions we receive are not ambiguous or abstract. It’s like leaving a meeting with clear action items! I noticed something in this first letter of St John – his repetitive use of the phrase, “as he is.” Throughout this letter John names several different attributes of our Lord Jesus and calls us to embody them, as he [Jesus] is. We fulfill this calling only by God’s grace. Let us seek today to be progressively transformed by his grace in order to become as he is.
In today’s passage, John tells us, “The person who acts in righteousness is righteous, just as he [Jesus] is righteous.” John goes on to contrast sinful behavior as belonging to the Devil. God makes it clear to us, “the children of God and the children of the Devil are made plain . . .” We need to be discerning and not deceived. In fact, all the “as he is” passages in this letter function as a litmus test for following Christ. Each one of them can help us examine our consciences and examine our lives to check for alignment with God.
Here are the “as he is” passages in 1 John that offer us clear insight into how to be like Jesus:
but if we walk in the light as he himself is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin. 1 John 1:7
...whoever says, “I abide in him,” ought to walk just as he walked. 1 John 2:6
Beloved, we are God’s children now; what we will be has not yet been revealed. What we do know is this: when he is revealed, we will be like him, for we will see him as he is. 1 John 3:2
And all who have this hope in him purify themselves, just as he is pure. 1 John 3:3
Little children, let no one deceive you. Everyone who does what is right is righteous, just as he is righteous. 1 John 3:7
Love has been perfected among us in this: that we may have boldness on the day of judgment, because as he is, so are we in this world. 1 John 4:17
I encourage you to reflect on these verses and see what you notice, what rises up in you, what convicts or compels you? God calls us to walk in the light, to walk as Jesus walked, to be like Jesus, to be pure, to be righteous, to be perfected in love. We can fulfill none of this on our own! How can we be “as he is?” God knows that apart from him we cannot be like Christ, but God gives us the grace we need, particularly Sacramental graces.
I’m writing this on Sunday, and during Communion this morning I was reflecting on what it means to receive Christ in the Eucharist – body, blood, soul, and divinity. If we, as Catholics, truly believe that it is Christ’s very real presence in the Eucharist, then we can and should expect to be transformed in some very real way every time we receive him. Since it is Christ himself that I consume, then I can and should expect him to consume me. My very self should be radically consumed and transformed by his very real, holy, and perfect self. Every reception of Communion is an opportunity for a progressive growth in holiness, a step-by-step becoming “as he is.” It is through the Eucharist that I can begin to be and walk “as he is.” As each one of us experiences the transformative power of the Eucharist and becomes more and more “as he is,” then the Body of Christ becomes a purer expression of Christ himself.
My sisters and brothers, may we today, seek to be “little Christs,” as he is, and so build up the Body of Christ, the visible presence of his love in this world.
Elizabeth Wells