We live in God's new world when we love, when we love others and we love God.

Good morning, happy Wednesday, and many blessings.
 
John 3:16 is the most well-known Bible verse of them all. But at the same is “probably the most distorted verse in the New Testament.” It is a verse that is commonly misunderstood.
 
God loves the world, loves each one of us, loves me. This is the whole message of Jesus, expressed in his words and embodied, directly, or indirectly, in the whole of his life. Am I convinced of this myself?
 
We live in the new world of God when we love, when we love others and love God. Prayer is relaxing into the mystery of being loved by God. Prayer moments bring us into the 'beyond', the world of love, of mystery and of endurance.
 
It has been said that if all the Gospels had been lost early on except the first sentence above, that would be enough for us. Once we know that God ‘loves the world to bits’ we have hope. God is hard at work to save us – from evil and failure and ruin and darkness. God’s plan is to bring us all into eternal life.
 
I take some time in my prayer to recognize what God is doing, even if it is difficult for me to lay aside my own needs and preoccupations. The word of God seeks a home in my heart and calls me to life – eternal life. This is how God loves the world, sending Jesus so that I might truly live.
Considering how God so loves the world, I pray for God's creation, for all God's people; listening to Jesus, we may be brought to life.
 
To live the message of John’s Gospel requires that one move from the shadows of darkness into the light. To stake our life on Jesus - the promised gift of God - is to know now this life of God, moving, living and acting in us today.
 
Jesus, you are the face of God revealed, a light shining out in our darkened world. I move between the shadow lands of darkness and light. With each daily encounter, may the relationship between us deepen. Let me see as you see, love as you love, and, by my actions, radiate your light to the world.
 
Thinking of myself in the presence of Jesus, one on one, like Nicodemus in this scene, do I experience myself as found wanting, condemned - or, even in my darkness, loved through and through and invited into the light?
 
Blessings,
 
Fr. Luis+