Daily Mass Gospel Reflection - Completing Love

Word on Fire Ministry ^ | )4-20-23 | Bishop Robert Barron

[MurphsLaw]

SECOND WEEK OF EASTER
John 3:31-36

Friends, today’s Gospel promises eternal life
to those who believe in the Son of God.

In almost every religion, the life of faith has something to do with a creature’s relationship to the Creator;
nearly all religions speak of the creature’s dependency upon God,
of his subjection to the divine providence, and of his need for grace and forgiveness.
Christianity, too, articulates these basic relationships,
but it pushes beyond them because it speaks of the Incarnation
and the gifts associated with it.

We hear in the third chapter of John’s Gospel that
“God so loved the world that he gave his only-begotten Son,
so that everyone who believes in him might not perish but might have eternal life.”
This well-known verse summarizes the Christian faith and gives expression to its distinctiveness,
for it speaks of the possibility that a creature might share in God’s own life.

The purpose of the sending of the Son was to gather the human race into the divine life—
the rhythm of the Trinitarian love—
so that we might relate to God not merely as creatures but as friends.
You see, love becomes complete only when there is another
who can receive fully what the lover wants to give.

[MurphsLaw]

+++The one who comes from above is above all.
The one who is of the earth is earthly and speaks of earthly things.
But the one who comes from heaven is above all. but no one accepts his testimony.
Whoever does accept his testimony
certifies that God is trustworthy.
For the one whom God sent speaks the words of God.
He does not ration his gift of the Spirit.
The Father loves the Son and has given everything over to him.
Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life,
but whoever disobeys the Son will not see life,
but the wrath of God remains upon him.+++

[ebb tide]

We hear in the third chapter of John’s Gospel that “God so loved the world that he gave his only-begotten Son, so that everyone who believes in him might not perish but might have eternal life.”

So why did Boobie Barron tell Ben Shapiro, a Jew, the following?

Shapiro : “I’m a Jew. I follow the Law. Can I go to Heaven”?

Barron: “Yes…the Catholic view…go back to the 2nd Vatican Council says it very clearly….I mean Christ is the privileged route to salvation…that is the privileged route….However, Vatican II clearly teaches that someone outside the explicitly Christian faith can be saved….