Look Up, Not Askance

April 29 Tuesday of the 2nd week of Easter: A thought for those who want to bear prophetic witness through lifestyle

Acts 4:32-37; Psalm 93:1ab,1cd-2,5; John 3:7-15

Jesus prayed “that they may all be one… so that the world may believe that you have sent me” (John 17:21).

We become one by looking up to “what is above, where Christ is” (Colossians 1:3). When we look around at the differences of opinion on earth, we become divided. But God’s “plan for the fullness of time” is to “gather up all things in him,” until all of us “come to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God” (Galatians 6:10; Ephesians 1:10; 4:13).

We don’t bear witness to Jesus by focusing on the differences that divide us as Christians. In The Joy of the Gospel (94) Pope Francis criticizes the “spiritual worldliness” of Christians who “feel superior to others because they observe certain rules or remain intransigently faithful to a particular Catholic style from the past.” Their “supposed soundness of doctrine or discipline leads… [them to] analyze and classify others, and to exhaust their energies in inspecting and verifying instead of opening the door to grace. In neither case are they really concerned about Jesus Christ or others.”

We will be drawn together if we look up admiringly to Jesus and share what we see instead of looking critically at one another while leaving Jesus out of the picture.

PRAY: Lord, draw our eyes to you.

PRACTICE: Never debate doctrine before sharing devotion.