NOTES for Jo1 2:1-6

The catholic epistle of the apostle and evangelist John the Theologian, written in the 90s of the first century, contains in concise form the very foundations of apostolic teaching. In it we hear the authentic testimony of the one who reclined on the Teacher's breast at the Last Supper and stood with the Most Holy Virgin at the foot of the Cross. As in the Gospel, the apostle John speaks in today's passage of the light that enlightens every person coming into the world. Here the apostle draws a kind of practical conclusion from this testimony. The light of God reaching the human heart enables us, he writes, not to lie to ourselves and to God. This is expressed first of all in repentance, in the confession of sins. If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves.

The apostle then writes of the most beautiful thing in the Gospel call to repentance: forgiveness. Our confession, in the precise sense of acknowledging our sins, leads not to humiliation and condemnation. God does not scold us as we scold children who admit their misdeeds, but through Christ's intercession grants us His forgiveness. Confession therefore becomes for us a path into new life. The radical difference of this new life is that in it a person keeps Christ's word, because God's love is brought to fulfilment in him.