May 14 - "This I command you: love one another"

[MariaChristi]

Dear Brothers and Sisters,

Today is the Feast 0f St. Matthias who took the place of Judas among the disciples. The First reading describes that scene in Acts 1: 15 – but it is the Gospel I want to focus on and ponder. There is so much to hear in Jesus’ words, the night before He died:

Gospel - from Jn 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 might 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.”

Yesterday we celebrated the Feast of Our Lady of Fatima and in so doing, hopefully we learned more about the Love which filled the Immaculate Heart of Mary and the Love she shared with the three little shepherd children. God is Love and so He has given us His Mother to be our example of how a human person can truly love as He loves.

The little children listened to Mary tell them how much God is offended by the sins of the world and how He desires repentance. Mary added that Jesus her son desires also that there be reparation to the Immaculate Heart of Mary. The command of Jesus to His disciples has been obeyed by many who are with Him in heaven now, but the children were aslo given a vision of hell that they might pray for sinners to repent and be saved from the fires of hell and drawn to heaven. We all have choices to make.

By God’s Grace, let us listen to the Words of Jesus in today’s Gospel, praying for one another and for the Church, that we may be open to receive His Love and to share His Love. We cannot give what we do not have and so we need to pray fervently for the Holy Spirit to fill our hearts with the fire of His Love.

Come Holy Spirit, fill the hearts of Your Faithful, kindle in us, the Fire of Your Love. Jesus we trust in You! Immaculate Heart of Mary, pray for us that we may become as little children, who follow Jesus, as you did on this earth, in faith and humility.

 

[Eric_Hyom]

Jesus died for us, so that must mean he loves each and everyone of us as he loves himself. That is a love beyond my understanding.

 

[MariaChristi]

Dear Eric,

Thanks much for your “heart” letting us know you agreed with the original post and for your reply which helps explain why you liked it. Yes, God so loved the world He gave His only Begotten Son, (cf Jn 3:16) to become Incarnate by the Power of His Holy Spirit in the womb of Mary, to live and die for us - that we might not perish but have eternal life!

In today’s Gopel we hear Jesus say:

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.

Certainly there is no greater love than the Love of God has shown to us in Jesus’ life, death, resurrection and ascension – Jesus emptied Himself for love of us. In St. Paul’s letter to the Philippians, chapter 2 we hear:

…Have among yourselves the same attitude that is also yours in Christ Jesus, Who, though He was in the form of God, did not regard equality with God something to be grasped. Rather, He emptied Himself, taking the form of a slave, coming in human likeness; and found human in appearance, He humbled Himself becoming obedient to death, even death on a cross…( Phil 2: 5-8)

Yes, dear Eric, God’s Love is beyond human understanding and yet we can continue to ask Him to show us His Way, His Truth, and His Love in order to follow Him with that “attitude” St. Paul wrote for us to hear and to learn. Without God’s Grace, we can do nothing but with God we can grow in holiness each day, through Mary our Mother and Model for the Church.

Jesus did not command the impossible, but rather He calls us to to be His friends by obeying His command to love. We too need to empty ourselves of the disordered “self-love” that keeps us from loving one another as He loved us, and to remain in His Love.

Please let us pray for one another, for the Church and for all those in most need of God’s Mercy.

 

[Eric_Hyom]

Here is a childlike and yet profound way to test the power of the greatest commandments; when looking for a purpose for the creation of the universe and life.

Before the creation of the universe began, imagine God the Father, Son and Holy spirit looking out into the vast empty void of space. They are thinking, we have the power to create anything we want, what is the greatest good thing that we can create?

God could create all the stars and planets and be the supreme builder. He could create plants; and be the unsurpassed gardener. God could create the animal kingdom; and be the best farmer. God could create children in his own image and be the greatest father. Can God create anything greater than children in his own image?

God could love each and everyone of his children as he loves himself. Could God love us more than he loves himself?

Could there be any greater purpose for God to create the universe and life?

We are given the greatest commandments to love as God loves, can we do anything greater?

This is just a collection of words to challenge the mind to think, search for something greater.

I believe the greatest commandments are the most profound words written anywhere throughout the history of mankind.

 

[MariaChristi]

Thanks for your thoughts, Eric.

Although I agree with you that God’s creation can open to us many beautiful and profound thoughts, I remember reading this sentence in one of St. Teresa of Avila’s books:

“The important thing is not to think much but to love much; and so do that which best stirs you to love.”
― Teresa of Avila

May we daily ponder the Word of God, through Mary. who loves Him and us perfectly!

Love never fails. If there are prophecies, they will be brought to nothing; if tongues, they will cease; if knowledge, it will be brought to nothing. For we know partially and we prophesy partially, but when the perfect comes, the partial will pass away. When I was a child, I used to talk as a child, think as a child, reason as a child; when I became a man, I put aside childish things. At present we see indistinctly, as in a mirror, but then face to face. At present I know partially; then I shall know fully, as I am fully known. So faith, hope, love remain, these three; but the greatest of these is love. (1 Cor 13: 8-13)

Finally from today’s 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.