DAILY MEDITATION (Text and Audio) *Tuesday of Week 10 in Ordinary Time, Cycle I* _Theme:_ *Jesus is the definitive Yes of God!* In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen. The readings of today are *2 Cor 1:18-22 and Mt 5:13-16.* (Click link for the texts of the readings: https://bible.usccb.org). Dear friends, inspired by the words of St. Paul read today, I invite us to reflect on this truth of faith, *_“Jesus as the definitive ‘Yes’ of God!”_* The text of Paul in question reads thus: “Brothers and sisters: As God is faithful, our word to you is not ‘yes’ and ‘no’. For the Son of God, Jesus Christ, who was proclaimed to you by us, Silvanus and Timothy and me, was not ‘yes’ and ‘no,’ but ‘yes’ has been in him. For however many are the promises of God, their Yes is in him; therefore, the Amen from us also goes through him to God for glory. But the one who gives us security with you in Christ and who anointed us is God; he has also put his seal upon us and given the Spirit in our hearts as a first installment.” (2 Cor 1:18-22). Let us look at this text more closely: *1. God is faithful* The fidelity of God is what hinges everything else St. Paul says in this text. God’s fidelity is presented in terms of his abiding “yes” and faithfulness to his promises. Paul sees himself as imitating this very fidelity of God, by emphasizing the bond of his word and that of his co-workers – “As God is faithful, our word to you is not ‘yes’ and ‘no.’” (2 Cor 1:18). The point St. Paul was trying to drive home is that the message of Christ Jesus he was preaching is the truth, and that the truthfulness of his message is based on the very truthfulness of God who never goes back on his promise. Elsewhere, writing to Timothy, St. Paul would affirm, “Even if we are unfaithful, God is always faithful.” (2 Tim 2:13). *2. Jesus as the faithfulness of God (God’s Yes)* St. Paul’s discussion of God’s faithfulness reaches a Christological highpoint in the text we read today, when he affirms, “Jesus Christ, who was proclaimed to you by us, Silvanus and Timothy and me, was not ‘yes’ and ‘no,’ but ‘yes’ has been in him. For however many are the promises of God, their Yes is in him.” (2 Cor 1:19-20). Here, Paul sums up all the promises of God in Christ Jesus. God’s promises essentially are for prosperity and not disaster (Jer 29:11); for salvation and liberation (Jer 30:11; Ex 3:7-10); and ultimately, every single promise of God leads to or flows from the promise of eternal happiness, the very reason for which we were created. By our sin, we miserably forfeited this gift of life; but in Christ Jesus is our reconciliation with God (2 Cor 5:18; Rom 5:8-11). In our sinfulness, we said “No” to the love of God; but in Christ, God has spoken his irrevocable “Yes” to us. By his own suffering and death on the Cross, Christ, having become one with us in all things but sin, and having taken upon himself the curse of our rebellious “no” to God, he spoke a definitive “yes” to the Father on our behalf, such that on his account, we might be justified before God. It is in Christ’s “yes” to the Father that we find the courage and example, and above all, have the grace to repent of our rebellious “no” of sin and to say “yes” to God. Therefore, as Karl Rahner puts it, “The cross is the _signum efficax,_ the efficacious sign of the redeeming love that communicates God himself because the cross establishes God’s love in the world in a definitive and historically irreversible way.” [“The Christian Understanding of Redemption” (1981), TI 21:239-54]. Accordingly, St. Peter would proclaim that it is in the name of Jesus that we have the forgiveness of sin (Acts 10:43); and St. John adds that “God has given us eternal life, and this life is in his Son Jesus Christ.” (1 Jn 5:11). Jesus is indeed he whom all the prophets awaited. He is the hope of Israel and the Savior of the world. It is he who is the faithfulness of God, his definitive manifestation of his love for his creation and the fulfillment of the pledge of blessedness for which he created us. Later into 2 Corinthians (5:21), St. Paul would affirm that “God made him [Christ] who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.” *3. Our own faithfulness after Christ’s example* In Jesus Christ, we encounter the face of God’s mercy, that is, God’s “yes” that overrides our “no”! It is this encounter that stands at the heart of the Christian’s life. For as Benedict XVI professed most eloquently, “Being Christian is not the result of an ethical choice or a lofty idea, but the encounter with an event, a person, which gives life a new horizon and a decisive direction.” _(Deus Caritas Est,_ par. 1). Dear friends, this saving encounter with Christ ought to have an impact in/on our lives – “giving it a definitive new horizon and direction.” For in Christ, as St. Paul ends today’s reading, “God has also put his seal upon us and given the Spirit in our hearts.” (2 Cor 1:21-22). Some translations describe the “Spirit given to us” as a seal of a “pledge” and others as a seal of “first installment” (v. 22). Regardless of the translation, the whole point here is that the Spirit given to us ought to bear fruit within us, shaping and orienting our lives toward the “fruition” or “fulfillment” of the pledge of eternal life that has already been given to us in Christ. Lord, thank you for loving me in Christ; help me to be faithful to your love always! And may God bless you and keep you, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Amen. Fr. Tegha