YOU ARE NOT OF THE WORLD
The true love of God and His way draw us to all that is good, true, and beautiful. If we sincerely love God then we will submit to His Truth and Goodness.
A little more than halfway through the Acts of the Apostles, St Luke mentions the original twelve Apostles for the last time. From then on the Book contains the story of others who are called to spread the Good News of God. They were left with the great responsibility of bringing the Gospel of Jesus Christ out of the center of Jerusalem and spreading it throughout the Mediterranean area and, eventually, to the whole world just as Jesus had intended. This was the responsibility of the first Christians and remains the same responsibility for us today.
St. John often uses the term "world" in his Gospel and Letters. Obviously he does not mean the planet Earth, or the human family that inhabits the globe, since he always uses the term in a disparaging or negative sense. The world, in Scripture, refers to the society of people who turn away from God or oppose His will. The world challenges us and at times can lead us down the wrong path. Examples such as addictions - alcoholism, drugs, pornography, and gluttony - come under the category of "world." These things weaken us and take away God's light and put us on a detour filled with darkness.
If you and I want to live in the light of our heavenly Father's truth, we must distinguish what is good and what is bad. The true love of God and His way draw us to all that is good, true, and beautiful. If we sincerely love God then we will submit to His Truth and Goodness.
Our prayer today is found in the Responsorial Psalm, "Let all the earth cry out to God with joy... Know that the Lord is God, our Maker to Whom we belong, Whose people we are, God's well-tended flock" (Ps. 100:2a, 3).