Over the centuries, spiritual guides have written books of prepared meditations: reflections designed to help people meditate on the Gospel. More recently we have collections of stories as in the books of Fr Anthony De Mello, which are designed to provoke reflection on life and its meaning.

This type of spiritual writing is already found in the Bible. St Paul did not write a Gospel, but chose rather, through his letters, to teach his communities to reflect on the mystery of Christ and the guidance which such reflection would uncover to help them face life and its problems and to grow in holiness.

John's First Letter is a similar extended meditation on the Word made flesh and the significance of belief in Jesus for a good Christian life. The Letter can be summed up in various ways. One theme which comes strongly to the fore is that bad Christology leads to bad morality: wrong and distorted ideas about Jesus lead to a standard of morality much less than that demanded by the Gospel, and indeed may even lead to serious sin.