Fr. Mike Schmitz

The first letter of St.

John, all three, I mean, all three letters of St.

John are just, they're encyclicals or they're, you know, they're letters of love.

And this is so, so important that the theme of his letters are not only the triumph of Jesus, of course, not only the triumph of Jesus, but

How everyone who belongs to Jesus must, must love one another as he has loved us.

In fact, John makes the clear point that if we do not love our brothers, then we don't truly love God.

That if we don't love those who are near to us, then we do not love the God who is invisible to us.

How can you say, how can I say, I love the God who's invisible?

and yet not love the brother or the neighbor who is visible.

And so it's so important.

But also St.

John says in chapter two, verse 15, so important.

This is a theme that's repeated again and again, that do not love the world or the things of the world.

If anyone loves the world, love for the father is not in him.

And that is so important.

Again, that world and our Lord are at enmity with each other.

The world wars against the Lord.

And so we just have to realize that how many of us are we living for the world?

How many of us, at the end of this 365 days, we realize, Lord, the world has my heart more than you do.

In so many ways, the world has shaped my lens more than you do.