By Dianne Davis

 

 For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son,
that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. ~John 3:16

My mom was a great cook, but desserts were never her specialty except for one thing—she made a fantastic Tiramisu. She would make it for Sunday gatherings and special events; everyone loved it! She died in 2017, and I haven’t had Tiramusi since. But a few weeks ago, I was thinking about her and decided to try to make it myself. 

The recipe calls for whisking egg yolks and sugar in a bowl over simmering hot water on the stovetop until the mixture reaches 170 degrees. As I was stirring and stirring the mixture, it didn’t seem to get hot. It was just barely lukewarm. As I continued to stir, waiting for it to heat up, I started thinking about the time in my life where my faith was just kind of sitting there, lukewarm. I thought I was a good Catholic. I went to Mass regularly, my older son was going to Catholic school, and I said my prayers every night. But still, there seemed to be a disconnect between Sunday Mass and the rest of my week. I felt like something was missing.

God So Loves You

Maybe you are feeling the same way I did. You love God, you are trying to do all the right things like going to Mass, praying, volunteering to help others, but you still feel like something is not quite the way it should be.  

Today’s Gospel is a beautiful message from God, “For God so loved the world that he gave His only Son, so that everyone who believes in Him may not perish but may have eternal life.” 

He loves us so much that He wants us to be with Him for eternity in Heaven. But we have a problem—sin. We all sin, and it separates us from God and the relationship He wants to have with us. So He gave us a way to be reconciled to Him. It’s a free gift, one that we can’t earn. He gave us His only son Jesus. The power of the Holy Spirit raised Him from the dead, and now we, too, have the possibility of being raised to eternal life one day. What Good News!  

Call for a Personal Response

As you are reading this, you might be saying to yourself, Yes, I know this already. I pray the Creed at Mass every week. Those are some of the things I said too. What I didn’t realize is that I needed to respond to this message. What was I going to do with this gift God has given me? Gifts can either be accepted or decline.  

In the book of Acts (2:37), Peter was sharing the Good News with the crowd. “Now when they heard this, they were cut to the heart and said to Peter and to the other apostles, ‘Brothers, what should we do?’” Something happened to these people when they heard the message. They knew they needed to act, to either accept or reject this gift. We do too. It’s not enough to know this in our minds. We need to make a personal response.  

Prayer: 

Lord God, please forgive me for all the things I have done wrong. I turn to you and turn away from sin. (Pause, silently ask forgiveness for anything you know is keeping you from God). Jesus, please be the center of my life. I welcome you personally as Lord and Savior of my life. I ask you, Holy Spirit, to fill me and empower me to live as a child of God. I want your grace to truly live a new life. Thank you for hearing my prayer, through Christ our Lord. Amen!   (from ChristLife, Catholic Ministry of Evangelization)

Call to Action:

If you aren’t ready to pray this today, it’s ok. Take your time and do it when you are ready. I prayed a similar prayer 21 years ago, and my faith stopped being lukewarm. God filled the void in my life and has taken me on the greatest adventure I could have ever imagined! He will do the same for you.  

 

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