to know jesus no matter what
"When someone comes preaching another Jesus than the One we preached, or when you receive a different Spirit than the One you have received, or a gospel other than the gospel you accepted, you seem to endure it quite well." —2 Corinthians 11:4
In this year of God the Father, we should be completing our years of preparation for the two-thousandth anniversary of Jesus' Incarnation. To celebrate this anniversary and the greatest of all jubilees (see Toward the Third Millennium, Pope John Paul II, 16), we must know Jesus deeply and intimately. However, it is not easy to know Jesus. For example, Paul accused the Corinthian church of believing in "another Jesus" (2 Cor 11:4) — a false Jesus. Jesus warned: "Many will come attempting to impersonate Me. 'I am the Messiah!' they will claim, and they will deceive many" (Mt 24:5). In fact, at the end of the world, many baptized Christians will not believe in the true Jesus but in a false one. This will be "the mass apostasy" (2 Thes 2:3).
Despite formidable opposition to knowing Jesus, God the Father constantly and powerfully reveals His Son, Jesus (see Jn 12:28), and the Holy Spirit bears witness to Jesus (Jn 15:26) and proclaims "Jesus is Lord" (1 Cor 12:3). Therefore, if we let God have His way, we will know Jesus and have eternal life (Jn 17:3).
Prayer: Father, as St. Jerome has taught, may I not be ignorant of the Scriptures and ignorant of Christ.
Promise: "If you forgive the faults of others, your heavenly Father will forgive you yours. If you do not forgive others, neither will your Father forgive you." —Mt 6:14-15
Praise: José was abandoned by his father when he was a boy. God drew José to Himself through the ministry of a pastor who had likewise been abandoned as a boy.
Nihil Obstat: Reverend Robert L. Hagedorn, November 28, 1998
Imprimatur: †Most Reverend Carl K. Moeddel, Vicar General and Auxiliary Bishop of the Archdiocese of Cincinnati, December 1, 1998