Sixth Sunday of Easter, Yr B. May 5, 2024.
Readings
1st: Acts 10:25-26, 34-35, 44-48
2nd: I John 4:7-10
Gospel: John 15:9-19
Theme: Love In Deeds And In Truth - Part II
My dear people of God, today is Sixth Sunday of Easter. Our reflections would focus on part two of last week's theme - Love In Deeds and In Truth, Part II. According to the Catechism of the Catholic Church. "If the Church was a body composed of different members, it couldn't lack the noblest of all; it must have a Heart, a Heart burning with Love which alone was the Mother force which enables the other members of the Church to act. If this Heart (Love) ceases to function (for whatever reason) the apostles would forget to preach the Gospel, the Martyrs would refuse to shed their blood. Love, in fact, is the vocation which includes all others; Love is a Universe of its own comprising all time and space - Love is eternal (# 826). Therefore, any Christian "Who is without Love cannot claim to know God....because God is Love. Love of God and love of neighbor are inseparably connected. "The energy of love discharges itself along lines which form a triangle, whose points are God, self and neighbor" (C H Dodd). If God loves us, we are bound to love each other, because it is our destiny to reproduce the life of God in humanity and the life of eternity in time. John, the author of our Second Reading of today says, with almost crude bluntness, that a man who claims to love God and hates his brother is a crazy liar. In fact, love has a double relationship to God. It is only by knowing God that we learn to love and it is only by loving God that we learn to know God. In other words, love comes from God and love leads to God. The only way to prove that we love God is to love His sons and daughters whom He (God) Himself loves.
Our First Reading of today shows how the power of love can scale all human walls and break through all racial and tribal barriers. We should not forget that the Jews had a reasoned conviction that the other nations were quite outside the mercy and any favor of God. The really strict Jew would not have any contact or dealing with a Gentile (non-Jew), not even with a fellow Jew who did not observe the law to the letter. A Gentile should be despised and avoided if at all possible. Sadly such ethnic prejudices and tribal discriminations are worse at our own time, even in the Church. With this in mind, reflect on what Christian Peter did. Earlier when the emissaries of Cornelius were at the door, knowing the Jewish outlook, they came no farther than the door. Christian Peter warmly asked them in and showed them hospitality beyond racial lines. Later when Christian Peter arrived at Caesarea, Cornelius met him at the door, no doubt wondering if the "Jew Peter" would cross his threshold at all, and Christian Peter entered Cornelius' house. In the most amazing way the barriers are beginning to go down. That is typical of the work of Christ. His love does not discriminate, it does not choose and select. A Christian by nature should be a neutralizer. Therefore, a Christian who chooses and selects, who divides, by any means, is not only a living contradiction in terms but also a serious mistake in the "New Creation'.
The central words in our Gospel are those in which Jesus says that His disciples have not chosen Him but He has chosen them. It was not we who chose God, but God who, in His grace, approached us with a call and an offer made out of pure love. Why has Jesus chosen us? We are chosen for joy. However hard the Christian way may be, it is the way of joy, both in the travelling and in the goal. The Christian should be a person of joy, the laughing cavalier of Christ. Suffice to say that a sad and gloomy Christian is a walking negation of the Gospel. This is no attempt to preach and/or promote artificial smiles in the name of Christian joy. We are also aware that a smiling face does not, at all time, suggest the absence of problems. However, if you are truly happy your face must know. Nothing in all religious history has done Christianity more harm than its consistent connection with black clothes and long faces. It is true that the Christian is a sinner but a freed and redeemed sinner has no reason to remain sad. We are chosen for love. We are chosen and sent out into the world to love one another. It is worrying that sometimes we live as if we were sent into the world to compete, dispute and even quarrel with each other. The Christian is sent to live in such a way that every minute detail of his/her life shows what loving the neighbor means. If we were to ask Jesus: "What right have you to demand that we love another?". His answer certainly would be, "No man can show greater love than to lay down his life for friends - and I did that". Jesus never asks His followers to do what He Himslf has not already done. Many Christian leaders, including priests/bishops will tell their followers to do what they themselves will not do. "Actions speak louder than words". If it takes only words to lead, then even a moron can be a leader. A longest sermon may last, at most, 2 hrs (+) but the entire life of a practising Christian should be a sermon. We pray for grace to sincerely believe in our hearts what we say and sing with our lips and the courage to practise and show forth in our daily lives what we believe in our hearts. May the gentle soul of Snr Bro Peter Dapillah Kuunang, and the souls of all the faithful departed, through the mercy of God rest in peace. Continue to make time to recite the Holy Rosary daily. God richly bless you and your family.
Rev. Fr. Thomas L. Debuo - Catholic Diocese of Damongo, Ghana. (0244511306/0243711926)