Cycle C - Year II:  

15 May 2022: Fifth Sunday of Easter 

(Liturgical Color: White)

Readings:

First Reading:        Acts 14:21-27

Second Reading:  Revelation 21:1-5

Gospel:  Please Read  John 13:31-33, 34-35 

The challenge to love!

TODAY we hear about the only commandment, the one law, and the only teaching that really matters to define relationship, according to our Lord Jesus Christ.

The Gospel proclamation this Sunday gives us a practical and simple command or law to live a good Christian life. The Gospel reading is part of Jesus' farewell discourse during the last supper with His disciples prior to His passion.

Jesus said to His disciples: "I give you a new commandment: love one another. As I have loved you, so you should also love one another." (Jn 13:34)  This new commandment -to love one another- is arguably one of the more famous statements in the biblical text.

What is new and unique about Jesus' commandment to love one another?

Our Lord speaks of love that is unconditional, without limit, without qualifiers or prerequisites, and totally self-sacrificing.  Now, it is part of the human condition to love and to want to be loved. But loving those with whom we like is the easy part. Loving the rest that we come in contact with is a much harder proposition.  Because the reality is that it is easier to love those who are more loving and lovable.

For Jesus, love did not mean a sweet sentimental feeling. It meant action. It meant actively loving - putting one's love into real world activities.  And there is no greater proof of God's love for us than the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ. Because in the cross we witness a new way of loving, a love that is selfless, sacrificial, forgiving and compassionate beyond comprehension.

In God's kingdom, the definition of love is not "having good feeling about another person." Rather, love is serving others before I serve myself, especially serving those who do not normally get such devotion or do not even deserve to be loved.

So that when Jesus commands us to love, He asks us to go beyond the normal love of friendship, beyond the love of family members, and beyond the love of a man and a woman.  Jesus asks us to love to the point of suffering, as He has loved us Himself.

In a  very real sense to love is our only mission here on earth.  We came from love, we will go home to love, and in between we are called to be people who can give and receive love.

And our love for one another includes not only human beings but the entire creation, like our environment and the rest of our world. Because God entrusts us to be responsible stewards of His Creation.

Christian love is the hallmark of Christianity We see it lived in the witness of the martyrs. We see it in the examples of the lives of saints. We see it in the holy men and women who live and love daily, making sacrifices for others.  And so loving one another, as Jesus loves us, is our witnessing of God's love itself. So that when we love others unconditionally, we love God Himself.

Let us pray that we remain faithful followers of our risen Lord Jesus Christ by witnessing with our daily lives His command to love one another. Amen.

Ad Jesum per Mariam!