impersonation

1 John 2:3-11; Psalm 96 Let the heavens be glad and the earth rejoice; Luke 2:22-25

In the first letter today on this 5th day of the Octave of Christmas John gives us a practical look at what it means to be a disciple; not only is it practical advice but it assures us of confidence in our knowledge of JEsus, confidence in our path to holiness that culminates in the fullness to be had in heaven.

In some sense, St. John invites us to impersonate Jesus. Imitation is the greatest form of flattery; yet John doesn't want us to merely imitate Jesus' external actions but he wants us to impersonate his heart.

We must allow our heart to be formed after his.

This formation of the heart occurs with each new attempt to do as he did. The more we seek to live like Jesus the more we are able to live like JEsus the more our heart will be formed into his.

Truth of the matter is this: we can only love what we know; thus the more we seek to impersonate the heart of JEsus the more we know about Jesus; the more we know the more we love; the more we love the deeper our knowledge grows.

The life becomes a spiral in which we dive deeper and deeper into the reality of Jesus and He dives deeper and deeper into us.

Thus, the "word of God can be perfected in us." This is not a one time thing, but a continual journey into the heart of Jesus, like Mary our hearts must be pierced through.

On another thought, we are still in the octave of Christmas, which means Christmas is not over; we must linger in this festival and allow the spirit of giving to transform our heart and make it like his.