Thursday after Epiphany : 7th January 2021

“This is what loving God is … keeping His commandments.” (1 Jn 5: 3)

It is not easy to love in its true sense, yet we can do this with God’s grace. This is because God loves us first, so our response ought to be of love too. It is said that if we do all for love, ‘no duty is too hard and no task too great’! This is because ‘love’ can turn the ‘burden’ light!

Do we take time at the end of each day to reflect as we examine how we have loved God in the people throughout the day? Let us remember that every commandment gives us an opportunity to show love. We are grateful for this gift!

In the Gospel, Jesus quoted Isaiah 61 to reveal how this love is to be lived out in our lives. It involves sharing the good news to the poor (especially during this time of pandemic); to help bring about liberty to captives (in our work for peace and justice) and help the blind to see and experience God’s love; to set the downtrodden free and proclaim the Lord’s year of favour.  This entails the ways we show God’s love to those who are bounded by sin and unfreedom.

“Lord, help us to be your light to those around us and to proclaim that the Epiphany is still being manifested through us — God’s instruments of love and hope.”