Friday, February 3 (January 21), 2023

2Peter 1:1-10; Mk. 13:1-8
Having described the virtues towards which we have to be striving with the help of God’s grace, the Apostle gives us further inspiration: “if these things be in you, and abound, they make you that ye shall neither be barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ”  [2Peter 1:8].   We spoke about them on Monday; let me add here that it is not enough to show them just once; we ought to implant those virtues in our hearts, make them our own, deeply rooted inside, ─ and, moreover, never allow them to remain on the same level, but grow and develop them in strength and fruitfulness.  Only then, says the Apostle, we will “neither be barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ”. 
The knowledge of our Lord is given to those who believe in Him and confess Him.  If you believe, ─ says the Apostle, ─ make sure that your faith is active and fruitful.  How to achieve this?  Work to acquire every possible virtue.  Have you ever seen anyone insisting that “faith alone is enough, nothing else is needed”?  Those who think so are surely blind.
 

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