Gospel Reflection May 9 – Deacon Paul
Sunday, May 9
Sixth Sunday of Easter
John 15: 9 – 17
Gospel:
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 life 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 you: love one another.”
Gospel Reflection:
The theme of today’s readings is clearly focused on “love.” And the word “love” appears in our readings today 18 times. In our Gospel, Jesus gives us one commandment. He does not say “Love Jesus or love God as I have loved you.” No, instead Jesus says, “If you want to be my disciple, then you must love another, as I have loved you.”
The love that Jesus speaks about today is very different from the love in pop songs, or much of the love that we see on TV and in the movies. Love is not a question of keeping a set of rules and commandments, but it is a way of life. It is an internal attitude that influences everything we do, and say, and think. The love of a Christian needs to be unconditional.
Saint Therese of Lisieux once stated that “Our Lord does not look so much at the greatness of our actions, or even at their difficulty, but instead at the love with which we do them.”
On this the Sixth Sunday of Easter we celebrate our Lord whose love is universal. Jesus gave us the Commandment of Love and He called us His friends. How beautiful is that? Jesus is the greatest example of love that has ever existed…a love that He gave for both His friends and foes…by laying down His life for us.
Let us follow the command of our Lord…and let us “Love one another.”
Today, let us also wish all our Moms a very Happy and Blessed Mother’s Day. Let us remember the tireless work and selfless sacrifice of all the mothers in our lives. May God bless them always!!
-Deacon Paul Zemanek