"Whoever possesses the Son has life; whoever does not possess the Son of God does not have life." // 1 John 5:13
I remember the first few times my friends and siblings-in-law referred to their sons as "my boys" or their daughters as "my girls." There was something so special and beautiful about it—not just that they have these amazing children—and multiples of them, but that they called them theirs.
There is clearly a sense of possessiveness there, and we probably most often think of that term in a negative light, but these parents only meant it in the most beautiful way. And this is the way that you would actually want to be "possessed"—by someone who loves you more than you love yourself.
We all want to belong. We all desire for someone to call us theirs. That's what came to mind from today's reading. When Saint John tells us, "Whoever possesses the Son has life," I think of how Jesus has these same desires too: to belong—to us, for someone to call Him theirs—again, us.
How can we "possess" the Son of God? I think by growing in intimacy with Him—in relationship with Him, in daily conversations in our prayer life with Him.
My husband used to be just John-Paul to me. Then we spent more time together, and he became my boyfriend. Even more time together later, he became my fiance—and now, my husband.
Maybe if we can look at our relationship with the Lord in a similar manner. While we already “possess” Him in one sense when He becomes our Savior through our baptisms, we could also work to have a deep personal relationship where we “possess” Him as friends do each other. What if we eventually spend enough time with Him, get to know Him, and then we can “possess” Him as our dearest friend and have life with Him. Maybe then, we will understand more fully how He became ours.
He became ours. // Annie Deddens Click to tweet
Annie Deddens is a writer and producer. She runs a prayer ministry with her husband, called Pray More Novenas. She has a heart for the sick & suffering, and she writes about living with greater faith (hope & love, too) in this imperfect world as a Catholic wife on her blog, Catholic Wife, Catholic Life. Find out more about her here.
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