Today is the 6th Sunday of Easter. This holy season is ending soon. Next Sunday we celebrate the Ascension of the Lord into Heaven and the following Sunday we celebrate the great Feast of Pentecost. Now is a good time to assess where we are in our journey of growth with the Risen Christ as we prepare our hearts and minds to be open to the Holy Spirit on Pentecost.
For the past two Sundays, we have focused on Jesus as a role model. He is the ideal shepherd who guides and protects his sheep even laying down his life for them. Jesus is the true vine that sutains us so we can bear abundant fruit. Today Jesus presents us with another ideal, the ideal friend. What makes an ideal friend? The ideal friend is the one who is willing to die for us. Jesus tells us, “No one has greater love than this, to lay down one’s life for one’s friends” (John 15:13). Jesus chooses us to be his friends. And we keep his friendship by obeying his commandment, “love one another as I love you” (John 15:12).
Jesus proved his friendship and love for us by submitting to crucifixion and death. He asks us to prove our love for him by loving our sisters and brothers all over the world the same way he loves us. With every loving act we accomplish, we are sharing God’s overwhelming, unconditional, accepting and sacrificial love. In today’s second reading, 1 John 4:7-10, St. John reminds us that we should “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.” This is the greatest gift of love possible.
And so, on this Sixth Sunday of Easter we give thanks to God who loved us so much that he sent his son Jesus into our world to teach us how to love.
Ever-living God,
Help us to celebrate our joy in the resurrection of the Lord
And to express in our lives the love we celebrate.
Grant this through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son,
Who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit,
One God, for ever and ever.
Amen.
