The Universal Church celebrates Sunday, May 06, 2018, as the Sixth Sunday of Easter – Year B. The entrance antiphon of this day’s Mass says, “Speak out with a voice of joy; let it be heard to the end of the earth: The Lord has set his people free, alleluia.”
The theme of love is central to this day’s Mass. The commandment of the new covenant is the Christian duty to love. No other Evangelist speaks so much about God’s love for man and his duty of returning God’s love as Saint John. In his Gospel, Jesus asks his disciples to make love the center of their being, if they are to remain rooted in him. First John, in the second reading, gives a great expression of what God is really like, when he describes God as love. When we love one another, we are sharing God’s love for us; we become God’s sons and daughters. To remind us that Pentecost is at hand, the first reading from Acts of the Apostles gives the account of what one writer has called “the Pentecost of the Gentiles” when the Holy Spirit descends on Cornelius’ household in the presence of Peter and the other disciples. It is a revelation wherein Peter realizes that Christ came not only for the chosen people, but his salvific plan embraces the whole of humanity. God does not have favourites; he saves all men and women irrespective of race or nationality. As we ponder on the readings of this day, let us ask for the grace of love so that we can see Christ, the embodiment of love, in all our brothers and sisters.
First Reading: Acts of the Apostles 10:25-26. 34-35. 44-48.
When Peter entered, Cornelius met him and, falling at his feet, paid him homage. Peter, however, raised him up, saying, “Get up. I myself am also a human being.” Then Peter proceeded to speak and said, “In truth, I see that God shows no partiality. Rather, in every nation whoever fears him and acts uprightly is acceptable to him.” While Peter was still speaking these things, the Holy Spirit fell upon all who were listening to the word. The circumcised believers, who had accompanied Peter, were astounded that the gifts of the Holy Spirit should have been poured out on the Gentiles also, for they could hear them speaking in tongues and glorifying God. Then Peter responded, “Can anyone withhold the water for baptizing these people, who have received the Holy Spirit even as we have?” He ordered them to be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ.
V/ The word of the Lord.
R/ Thanks be to God.
Comment
Under Peter’s leadership, the young Church enters a new stage in her mission by preaching to the pagans. This begins modestly enough in the house of Cornelius of Caesarea. Cornelius’ family and friends have gathered to listen to the saving word of God. This group represents the pagan world which has for centuries been waiting for Christ without knowing it.
This episode, in which Cornelius, the Roman officer, plays the leading role, has a much wider significance. His conversion means that the Jews are no longer the only heirs of the Promised Land: It shows that the Gospel brings a universal remedy to solve a universal need.
It is, however, difficult at first for the pagans to realize what is happening to them when God manifests himself to them, makes his will known and confers his gifts upon them through the medium of other men. Their first reaction is to think that these must be celestial beings or gods in human form, until it is quite clear that they are men of flesh and blood. When Paul cures a cripple, the people are as astonished. Saint Luke tells us that ‘when the crowds saw what Paul had done, they lifted up their voices, saying in Lycaonian, “The gods have come down to us in the likeness of men!” (Acts 14: 11). That is how it is: men and women are the defective but essential instruments whom God normally uses to make his plans of salvation known. God in his providence acts in this way, first in the Old Testament and particularly in the New Testament.
Peter’s short address is his first to non-Jews. It begins with the central idea that God is impartial. He wants all men and women to be saved through the proclamation of the Gospel. While he is still speaking, the Holy Spirit descends on the Gentiles and they start to speak in tongues. This is what has been called “the Pentecost of the Gentiles”. There the Holy Spirit came down on the first disciples, who were all Jews. Now he comes down on the Gentiles as well, unexpectedly and irresistibly. The centurion and his household are baptized on Peter’s instructions, without first becoming Jews through circumcision. Baptism is then given them in the name of Jesus the Risen Lord.
Let us pray that the Holy Spirit may also come into our lives and give us the gift of tongue with which to proclaim God’s greatness: “O God, to whom all hearts are open, all hearts known, and from whom no secrets are hidden, cleanse the thoughts of our hearts by the in-pouring of your Holy Spirit, that every thought and word of ours may begin from you, and in you be perfectly completed. We make our prayer through Christ, our Risen Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, One God, for ever and ever. Amen. Alleluia.”
Second Reading: 1 John 4:7-10.
Beloved, let us love one another, because love is of God; everyone who loves is begotten by God and knows God. Whoever is without love does not know God, for God is love. In this way the love of God was revealed to us: God sent his only Son into the world so that we might have life through him. In this is love: not that we have loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as expiation for our sins.
V/ The word of the Lord.
R/ Thanks be to God.
Comment
In today’s 2nd reading, Saint John paints for us a picture of God’s love, which is another name for true love. John’s teaching on love can be summarised under three headings: why love, what is love, and how does one love?
The passage begins with an exhortation to love. “Beloved, let us love one another (1 John 4:7a). John addresses his readers as “beloved.” This shows that already there is love in the community. What John is actually asking of them is that they should continue loving one another. This message is one that we all need to hear. If we love one another, then we should intensify such love. And if we do not as yet love one another, then it is time to start doing so.
From here John gives his readers reasons why they must love one another. They must love one another “because love is from God; everyone who loves is born of God and knows God. Whoever does not love does not know God, for God is love” (verses 7b-8). John gives two reasons, a positive one and a negative one. Positively, he says that love is from God. Living a life of love, therefore, is the way to be sure that we know God and that we are children of God. On the flip side, he argues that not having love for others simply means that one does not know God. John’s message is simple: If we have love in our lives, we have God in our lives; and if we do not have love in our lives, we do not have God either. This is because God is love and love is God. God and love are two different words that mean the same thing. You cannot separate one from the other.
John is addressing people who believe they know God, people for whom it is important to love God, people who are so focussed on loving God that they sometimes neglect loving their fellow human beings. John is telling them that anyone who claims to be a spiritual person or devout lover of God but does not focus equally on practically loving his of her brothers and sisters is living a lie. To grow in one’s knowledge and love of God, one must endeavour to grow in one’s knowledge and love of one’s fellow human beings.
We often tend to see love as one commandment among many. Today, John teaches us that love is not one out of so many commandments, it is the only commandment. Moreover, love is not just a commandment of God, love is God Himself. May God, our loving Father, who is Himself love, help us to purify our love for Him and for one another, so that we can love as generously and as unconditionally as He, God, loves us. We make this supplication through Christ our Lord. Amen. Alleluia.
Gospel: John 15: 9-17.
Jesus said to his disciples: “As the Father loves me, so I also love you. Remain in my love. If you keep my commandments, you will remain in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commandments and remain in his love. “I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and your joy might be complete. This is my commandment: love one another as I love you. No one has greater love than this, to lay down one’s live for one’s friends. You are my friends if you do what I command you. I no longer call you slaves, because a slave does not know what his master is doing. I have called you friends, because I have told you everything I have heard from my Father. It was not you who chose me, but I who chose you and appointed you to go and bear fruit that will remain, so that whatever you ask the Father in my name he may give you. This I command: love one another.”
V/ The Gospel of the Lord.
R/ Praise to you, Lord Jesus Christ.
Comment
No other Evangelist speaks so much about God’s love for us and our duty of returning God’s love as does Saint John. The very heart of the Christian Gospel is love. “This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you” (Jn 15:12). Love originates in God for God is love. Love makes us one with him and others. It is a gift that we must accept gratefully. When we love God we love our neighbours too. Thus, the love of neighbour becomes a characteristic feature of the love of God.
The love that comes from God must enable us to love and abide by it throughout our lives. Our love for one another enables us to bear fruit that will last. This means that we have to do our duties and live in this world in such a way that everything we do should be the outcome of love. The Gospel tells us to love God with all our heart and soul (Mt. 22:37). God’s work of love must be our life’s work as well.
And how practically do we reflect God’s love? We must be loving and kind to others by extending a helping hand, and lending a listening and ready ear to others. We have to be the messengers of God’s love in the world. We have to understand that God’s love is based on choice: he loves because he chooses to love. The supreme example of that love is the gift of his Son to die for us.
Today’s gospel gives us two models of personal relationship to Jesus: as a servant or as a friend. At any given point in our faith journey one of these two models is predominant. Either we see our relationship to Christ mainly in terms of master-servant or in terms of friend-friend. With the exception of mystics, traditional lay spirituality in the church has followed the master-servant model. Jesus is seen more as a master to be feared, respected and obeyed than as a friend to love in intimacy and familiarity. Today’s gospel challenges us to rethink our relationship with Christ because, evidently, Christ himself prefers to relate with his disciples as friend to friend rather than as master to servant: “I do not call you servants any longer, because the servant does not know what the master is doing; but I have called you friends” (John 15:15).
Jesus says that he would no longer call his disciples servants. This seems to indicate that he called them servants until then. Our relationship with Christ goes through different stages. First it starts off as a master-servant relationship when we are new to the faith, but then as our relationship with Christ deepens it changes into a less formal friend-friend type of relationship. Why, then, do so many of us stick to the master-servant way of relating to Christ as if it were the only way? Today’s gospel is a call for us to move beyond the infant stage, the servant-master relationship, and go over to the adult stage, the friend-friend way of relating to Christ. This will change the way we pray and the way we live. We shall begin to pray better (John 15:7) and to experience more peace and joy into our lives, as people do who are in love.
One objection that is often raised by those who promote the master-servant model of relating to Christ is the concern that we are unworthy. Sure enough, we are not worthy. But Jesus has already taken that into consideration. He reminds us that “You did not choose me but I chose you” (John 15:16). If he has decided to choose us in our unworthiness and to love and accept us as we are, then we should not fix our gaze on ourselves and ask, “Who am I, Lord, that you should love me?” Rather we should fix our gaze on him and ask, “Who are you, Lord, that you love me so?”
How can we tell the difference between the irreverence and disrespect shown by those who have no serious relationship with the Lord and true familiarity which grows out of a loving relationship with Him? The key is keeping the Lord’s commandments. Yes, God loves and accepts us as we are, but God loves us too much to leave us as we are. We love babies as they are, yet we want them to grow up. God expects us, similarly, to grow in His love. The Lord’s offer to us of friendship and intimacy with him should not be an excuse for callousness and indifference. Just as God showed His love for us in deed by sending his Son to die for us, so is true love for God always shown in deed by the way we keep the twin commandments of love of God and neighbour. By this we can know if we are truly Christ’s friends, because, “You are my friends [only] if you do what I command you” (John 15: 14).
As we march towards the Ascension of our Lord on Thursday, let us pray for the courage to rid ourselves of the obstacles that hinder us from loving God and from loving one another. We make our prayer through the risen Lord who lives and reigns with the Father in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God forever and ever. Amen. Alleluia.
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