The Wednesday after Quasi modo geniti Sunday
Posted on April 30, 2025 by under
Scripture: 1 Peter 1:22-25 (NKJV)
1:22 Since you have purified your souls in obeying the truth through the Spirit in sincere love of the brethren, love one another fervently with a pure heart, 23 having been born again, not of corruptible seed but incorruptible, through the word of God which lives and abides forever, 24 because
“All flesh is as grass, and all the glory of man as the flower of the grass. The grass withers, and its flower falls away,
25 “but the word of the Lord endures forever.”
Now this is the word which by the gospel was preached to you.
Devotion
“Love one another fervently with a pure heart…” With these words Peter has given us a rather tall order. How can we, who bear the impurity of sin, love with pure hearts? The fact we recognize our sin is the beginning. “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness” (1 John 1:9). The answer for how to “love one another fervently with a pure heart” is shown in God’s love and forgiveness.
Through Holy Baptism we become members of Christ and He gives us the gift of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is at work in us every day to bring us to repentance, asking God to forgive us for Jesus’ sake. Then, the same Holy Spirit works in us the desire to love our brothers and sisters in Christ, our neighbors, and our enemies. When we fail, He leads us back to repent of our sins.
This cycle continues until we draw our last breath and wither away. While this may sound morbid, we must remember that, because we are connected to Christ, our last breath is connected to His last breath on the Cross: “Father, into Your hands I commit My spirit” (Luke 23:46). Because we are in Christ, we are committed to our Father and are assured of our place with Him in eternity.
Collect: Grant, we beseech Thee, Almighty God, that we who have celebrated the solemnities of the Lord’s Resurrection, may, by the help of Thy grace, bring forth the fruits thereof in our life and conversation; through the same Jesus Christ, Thy Son, our Lord, Who liveth and reigneth with Thee and the Holy Ghost, ever One God, world without end. Amen.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
