Remaining in God’s love
It is a love that liberates us and raises our dignity to being friends of the Lord, to whom the fullness of the revelation has been proclaimed
May 5—Sixth Sunday of Easter Readings—Acts 10: 25-26, 34-35, 4448; Psalm 98, R. The Lord has revealed to the nations his saving power.; 1 John 4:7-10; Gospel—John 15:9-17
Our Gospel readings continue to focus on our centering our life on Our Lord, the theme running through our Masses the past week. This Sunday we are invited to “remain in Jesus’ love.” This is our first point for reflection.
Our second point for reflection is our friendship with Jesus. Then the third and final point is our being chosen and the promise of Jesus’ help.
“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.” (cf. John 15:9-17)
This is one of the most inspiring passages in the Gospels. It expresses the depth of Jesus’ love for us, and is the most compelling invitation for us to center our life on our Lord.
St. Paul, in his Letter to the Romans, emphasized the power of this grace, that as we center our life on Jesus, nothing “will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.” (cf. Romans 8:39)
Jesus’ love for His Father was expressed through loving obedience. It is this love that He invites us to remain in, and at the same time is the grace that allows us to remain in His love.
This is the core of the love of Jesus for us and for the Father. His loving obedience to the Father’s will showed that He is the Beloved Son, and it was this loving obedience that won for us our salvation in the mystery of the Cross and Resurrection.
Beauty and power
The love of God in Christ Jesus’ Cross and Resurrection is the final word of God and His definitive revelation.
We are no longer slaves because of this love. It is a liberating love, and a love that raises our dignity to being friends of Jesus, His brothers and sisters. This is our second point for reflection.
God’s love is at one and the same time a love that liberates us and raises our dignity to being friends of the Lord, to whom the fullness of the revelation has been proclaimed.
This is the beauty and power of God’s love—not only does He forgive us our sins, but He even makes us part of the mission of his Son which is closest to His heart, our and the world’s salvation.
Paraphrasing Fr. Horacio dela Costa, S.J., to be a friend, a follower of Jesus is to know that one is a sinner yet called to be a companion of Jesus under the standard of the Cross, in His mission to heal and save a world wounded by injustice.
The third and final point for reflection is Jesus’ affirmation of His call for us: “It was not you who chose Me, but I who chose you and appointed you to go and bear fruit that will remain ... ”
It is another overwhelming grace to realize that we are chosen by Jesus Himself. The call and mission is a personal grace from Jesus to “bear fruit that will remain.”
He continued with the assurance that “whatever we ask the Father in His name He may give us.”
Amazing grace—grace that is ours because of Jesus’ perfect love for us. It is the love that made Jesus give Himself for us—Jesus who “loved me and He gave himself up for me.”