Gospel John 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 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.”
Homily
These past months I have been living the experience of a rock star. I am hugged and kissed. I am told how much I am loved by persons in the Archdiocese of Port of Spain. But those expressions do not stop with Catholics; many non-Catholics also tell me how much I am loved. I tell others that I am still on honeymoon and I wonder when it will all stop as stop it surely will, but I suppose that I will enjoy it while it lasts. It feels good to be loved and it feels good to love in return but I must not allow myself to be fooled by feelings, because love is not primarily about feelings but about decisions.
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It is important therefore to ask oneself from time to time about the quality of one’s love. The gospel that is given to us this weekend for our meditation provides the criterion which we must use. The chief exhortation of Jesus in this Gospel passage is that we remain in the love of Jesus. To remain in the love of someone is to build a love circle with that person through which both parties seek the good of the other. To remain in the love of Jesus is to do his will, it is to do the best that we can for him. The best that we can do for Jesus therefore is to keep his commandments and through our keeping of his commandments Jesus is glorified. Jesus then tells his disciples, “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.” The criterion which we must use to evaluate the quality of love is the ability to love as Jesus did, laying down one’s life for his/her friends. What Jesus did however was to lay down his life for those who considered him both friend and foe. Jesus considered all to be his friends but this was not reciprocated by many, yet Jesus laid down his life for all even those who were crucifying him. Remember his words! “Father forgive them for they know not what they do.”
Frequently we read of individuals who have drowned on one of our beaches trying to save a loved one, much more infrequently do we hear of persons who have drowned trying to save a stranger or an enemy. This is truly to become another Christ in our world; Giving one’s life even for the enemy. The problem of course is that we have not grown up in a culture which encourages such behaviour. The culture in which we live is very individualistic. The culture teaches us to love ourselves first. The culture encourages us to seek what is of material benefit to us first before thinking of others. To love then as Christ did, seeing all persons as friends and being willing to give one’s life for all persons is extremely difficult. But we must remember what is also said in the Gospel passage; “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.” If Christ chose us we can be sure that Christ is well aware of our weakness and will give us all the help which we need if only we ask him for it. This is how the saints all lived. It would not have been easy for St. Damian of Molokai to go and live among lepers but he did, loving them and trusting in the mercy of God. Similarly it would not have been easy for Mother Teresa of Calcutta but again she loved those dying on the streets and trusting in God’s merciful love obtained the necessary graces. If we remember that love is not emotional attachment but a decision to do the best that we can for the other and ask God as the saints did for his merciful help we too will love in the difficult circumstances, we will produce fruit and fruit which will remain.
Prayer
All powerful and ever-loving God, we thank you for all the signs of your love in our lives. May this experience of your love help us to love others in return, may the experience of your love help us to lay down our lives for our friends. We thank you Father for the powerful examples of your saints, those who dedicated their lives to the betterment of the poor, the abandoned, and the marginalized. We thank you for groups like the St. Vincent de Paul, who dedicate time and energy to building the civilization of love. We ask Father for the grace to imitate your saints so that all together we may bear fruit that will remain. We ask this through Jesus your Son and Mary our Mother who teach us what it is to love. Amen
