Cycle A - Year II:  

17 May 2020: Sixth Sunday of Easter

(Liturgical Color: White)

Readings:

First Reading:        Acts 8:5-8

Second Reading:   1 Peter 3:15-18

Gospel Reading:   Please read John 14:15-21  

"To love our Lord Jesus!"

If you come to think of it, all of creation may simply be described as God's love.  And "God so loved the world that he gave his only Son so that everyone who believes in him might not perish but might have eternal life." (Jn 3:16)

On the sixth Sunday of Easter we hear Jesus speak about love, and the power of unconditional love for those who believe in Him and choose to follow in our Lord's footsteps.  This discourse to His disciples is part of His farewell to them before our Lord Jesus undertake His passion on Calvary.    

Jesus challenges His disciples in this Gospel passage:  "If you love me, you will keep my commandments."  The statement is very clear as it can be.

So to all of us who profess to truly love our Lord Jesus Christ, we must obey His commandments and teachings because they enable us to make the love of God real in our lives.

Now, one of the most spiritually destructive ideas that has infected the world today is the fallacy of claiming to love Jesus Christ while at the same time ignoring, and even rejecting, the commandments and teachings of His Church on earth.  To do so is like a "double-talk.

In our human experience, the real test and testimony of our love for a person lies in our acceptance of what that person we love holds dear.  In other words, authentic love means cherishing and honoring what the person we love cherishes and honors.  And this is what our Lord is telling us today: "If you love me, you will keep my commandments" through the teachings of His Church.

Jesus Himself showed us that His victory over death was through the way o the Cross for the love of us.  So then, there is no other way for us, too, if we want to follow our Lord.  That is why following our Lord Jesus Christ is a real challenge indeed.  If we truly love Jesus nothing can stand in our way to follow His commandments.

The second point in our reflection is our Lord's promise that He will not leave us orphans but will ask the Father to give us "another Advocate to be with us always."

As we approach Pentecost, Jesus prepares His disciples for the coming of the Holy Spirit through Whom the Church will be built and nations converted.

The Person of the Holy Spirit is with us to empower us to love and fulfill God's laws and commandments.  The Holy Spirit comes and remains with us in order to engender within us a filial trust in the Lord and so the certainty of being loved by Him in return.

So now with the Holy Spirit within us, we are then filled with the light of truth so that we can embrace and live the Gospel freedom that comes to us through the blessing of the Lord's commandments: the freedom to love, the freedom to choose what is good in every situation, even when doing so is difficult and challenging.

Let us listen to the final words of our Lord Jesus Christ in today's Gospel: "Whoever has my commandments and observes them is the one who loves me.  And whoever loves me will be loved by my Father, and I will love him and reveal myself to him."

A blessed Sunday to us all.  And thank you for a moment with God.

Ad Jesum per Mariam!