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5th Week of Easter, Saturday

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In today’s Gospel Our Lord reminds us that Christianity is not a popularity contest, and that comes down all the way from the top: after he’d spent three years preaching, travelling, healing, and working miracles, he was accused, abandoned, unjustly tried, and executed. When John speaks of “the world” in his writings he refers to all the forces that are opposed to Jesus and his saving work: persons, cultures, temptations, circumstances, and situations. Just as God is love and seeks to spread his love out of pure goodness, a sad response on the part of some of his creatures is, almost like a photo negative to the positive of his love, hate. They’re not on equal footing: God’s love will triumph, the only question is whether we let it triumph in us or stay out in the cold.

The shadow of the cross is always present in Christian life: the world wants to nail us up there as a lesson and as a statement as to what it thinks about God and his love. The Christian, following the example of Our Lord, must humbly and lovingly ask the Father to forgive these people, for they know not what they do. Love is ultimately the best response to the hate and scorn of the world, the true love as taught to us by God in His Son: it means truly always having the good of the other in mind, and a willingness to go even up onto the cross for them. Many times that love has to be tough love: giving testimony to an unpopular truth about marriage, family, morality, and so many issues touching the core of human existence. We cannot shy away from that if we truly love those involved.

Let’s examine the comfort level of our Christianity today: is there something in my way of thinking, speaking, and acting that rubs “the world” the wrong way? Does my concern about what others will think or say keep me from sharing the truth in love about the things that really matter? Ask Our Lord for the strength to love and endure whatever misguided response “the world” might have in store and to never be a “worldly” Christian.

Readings: Acts 16:1–10; Psalm 100:1b–3, 5; John 15:18–21.

5th Week of Easter, Friday

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In today’s Gospel Our Lord commands us to love one another. Pope Benedict XVI in his encyclical Deus Caritas Est asked how it was possible that love could be commanded (n.14). Love is one of the freest acts the human person can perform: someone can be very ingratiating to us, but love always requires that moment where we give our “yes,”that inner movement of our heart and will that seeks the good of the beloved because he or she is beloved. The Holy Father’s answer to the question was simple: “Love can be ‘commanded’ because it has first been given.”

Jesus reminds us today that love for him is connected with love for others. We can’t claim either love if we deny one of them. This is the calling card of every sincere Christian. We have been loved by God, who loves each and every person, past, present, and future, sinner or saint, to the point of dying for them on the Cross. If he is willing to go the distance for every soul, it shouldn’t be hard for us to see the need to show our love for him by trying to love others.

If there’s anyone today you consider “off-limits” to your love, either because they’ve hurt you or because you can’t see a way to love them, contemplate Our Lord on the Cross and ask him to help you see the path to loving that person. If you don’t do it for yourself at first, do it for him.

Readings: Acts 15:22–31; Psalm 57:8–10, 12; John 15:12–17.

 

5th Week of Easter, Thursday

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In today’s Gospel Our Lord reminds us that there is a difference between love and obligation, but that both love and obligation support each other when one or the other comes under fire. Jesus teaches that we remain in his love by keeping his commandments, just as he’s kept his Father’s commandments. If a parent or a spouse commands you to do something, something that may be difficult for you, love is often the reason in the end that you do it. And in a society where family life comes under fire and is not supported as it should be, and marriages face trials daily not just for difficulties between the spouses themselves, sometimes in a moment when you’re thinking of giving up it is remembering the obligation of marriage that your love led you to freely take upon yourself in a brighter moment that keeps you going forward.

Obligation helps us remember that love is not just feeling good. Any parent who gets up at 3:00 AM to change their infants diapers knows that, or a son or daughter who cares for an elderly and ailing parent. Reminding yourself of your obligations is something that you can hold onto in order to regain your footing in a tough moment. We also know that love goes beyond just obligation or it can become pretty miserable. That’s why we must always remind ourselves that we fulfill our obligations out of love. Some of them have their origin in love–marriage, childhood, consecrated life, ordination–but they’re all a response to a love we have received due to no merits of our own. That’s especially true in fulfilling the commandments of God: we obey God as Our Lord, Our Heavenly Father, out of love and gratitude for all the love he has lavished upon us.

Let’s freshen up our love toward God and neighbor today by remembering all the love we’ve received, and fulfilling lovingly our duties and obligations toward God and others.

Readings: Acts 15:7–21; Psalm 96:1–3, 10; John 15:9–11.

5th Week of Easter, Wednesday

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grapevine

Our Lord reminds us in today’s Gospel that the Christian life, like a cultivated vine, depends on the trunk in order to grow and develop instead of withering on the vine. Part of this involves imitating Christ and following his teachings: he reminds us today of the need to have his word remain in us, but also the need for us to remain in him and he in us, a constant flow of divine life. The cultivated vine in today’s Gospel represents the communion of life with God that we must maintain in love. When we stop loving God and loving others this vital flow is cut off, and if everything at first seems the same, soon enough our life starts to wither.

A sacramental life is what fuels a Christian life. Through the sacraments we establish, maintain, and, when necessary, restore this vital communion with God. We’re more fortunate than plants: sometimes they are beyond a little water in order to perk back up. It’s never too late to return to a sacramental life. It’s true that someone cut off from Christ in this way for an extended period of time has a long road ahead to make amends and overcome the vices that can become very entrenched when practiced for a long time, but the vital flow is restored: through our love we reconnect to God’s love, in faith we know the vital flow of grace is opened again to us, and in hope we know that as long as we keep striving to change and remain in Christ we will succeed with his help.

Let’s take a moment and examine our sacramental life today. Are we going to the Eucharist at least every Sunday and Holy Day Obligation? Are we going to Confession when our conscience tells us something is wrong? It’s never too late to reconnect with God through the sacraments as the best way to help us grow as Christians.

Readings: Acts 15:1–6; Psalm 122:1–5; John 15:4a, 5b; John 15:1–8. For another reflection on today’s Gospel, see 5th Sunday of Easter, Cycle B.

5th Week of Easter, Tuesday

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In today’s Gospel Our Lord promises to give us peace, but not as the world gives it. Peace as the world understands it can mean so many things: financial security, quality time with family and friends, good health, a lack of worries, domestic tranquility (either as a family or as a nation), a sense of fulfillment in your career, etc. The difference between these kinds of peace and the peace Jesus offers us is that all these things, even if they might last a long time, won’t last forever. Easter time is a time for thinking of eternal life and eternal peace. The peace we experience in this life is often just a glimpse of the true peace that is to come.

The peace Jesus promises today is not just a future peace: Paul in the First Reading was attacked and left for dead, and if a movie was written about such drama today, it’d probably show Paul in the aftermath as traumatized, disillusioned, bitter, or seeking revenge. The First Reading shows something different: Paul gets up, moves on, and keeps working and encouraging others. That is the peace of soul we as Christians strive for: it continues to fill us even when we are persecuted, sick, poor, or reviled. It’s a peace that is willing to sacrifice everything to show that God loves us and has a purpose for us, therefore all the trials and tribulations of this life in the end will seem like so many small inconveniences that are forgotten in the light of the more fulfilling and meaningful things of life that follow.

If we are facing trials today: poverty, illness, a difficult family situation, persecution for being a good person or being Christian, let’s ask Our Lord to help us draw from the deeper well of his peace not only to help us keep moving forward, but to be a source of true peace in others’ lives as well.

Readings: Acts 14:19–28; Psalm 145:10–13b, 21; John 14:27–31a.