REFLECTION:



This passage from the Letter of John always brings me back to Lead Catechist Paul Luamanu, a wise elder from back home in my village. He used to repeat often, almost like a gentle warning and a teaching wrapped into one: “There are three things of the world—the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life.”

At the time, I didn’t fully understand what he meant. I thought those were simply his own words—life advice shaped by experience and faith. Only later did I realize that he was echoing Scripture itself, drawing from the wisdom of St. John, who speaks as a spiritual father to his community.

John reminds us that while we live in the world, we are not meant to live for the world. The desires that promise fulfillment—pleasure without limits, endless wanting, and self-centered pride—are passing. They do not last. What lasts is doing the will of God, what lasts is love rooted in Him.

This message is especially fitting as we continue to celebrate the Christmas season. Christmas is not just a single day we have passed, but a mystery we are still unwrapping. In the Incarnation, God did not come to dazzle us with power or possessions. He came humbly—as a child laid in a manger. In Jesus, we see the opposite of the world’s temptations: not grasping, but giving; not pride, but humility; not excess, but self-gift.

John’s words invite us to ask ourselves: What are we loving? Christmas reminds us that true joy does not come from what we accumulate or show off, but from whom we belong to. The child born in Bethlehem teaches us that a life centered on God is not a life of loss, but a life that endures.

As we move forward from Christmas Day into the days ahead, the challenge remains: Can the way we lived during Christmas—our generosity, patience, forgiveness, and attention to others—continue beyond the season? The Word became flesh so that we might learn how to live, how to love, and how to choose what truly lasts.

Like the wisdom passed on by catechists and elders before us, John’s message is simple but enduring:
Do not cling to what fades. Hold fast to Christ, for in Him, we remain forever.