First Reading: Acts 15: 22-31
Psalm 57
Gospel: John 15: 12-17
Speaking to his disciples at the Last Supper, Jesus continues to talk about the centrality of love. He expresses it in a commandment. Perhaps, this commandment is not to love God, or to love Jesus, but to love one another. God does not need to be mentioned because that love is only possible when God is acting in and through us. That is the touchstone of the genuineness of our love for God. The measure of that love is that of Jesus for us. If that is not clear enough, he spells it out: the greatest possible love a person can have is to sacrifice one’s life for one’s friends. That may mean dying for others but it can also mean living for others; in either case our primary concern is for the need of the brother or sister.
It is the only path to demonstrate that we love God and that God’s love is in us. Jesus shows that love by his own death for his friends. And who are his friends? They are those who do what he commands, that is, that we love each other to the same degree that he loves us. Earlier Jesus told his disciples, after washing their feet, that he was their Lord and Master, but now he also calls them his friends, not servants. Jesus is our Lord but he is also our Brother, our Friend. Because of that, he has shared with us all he has received from his Father. Obviously, it is for us to share all we know about Jesus with others, too. Finally, he reminds them that they are his followers, because he has chosen them; they have not chosen him. We do not confer any favor on Jesus by following him. We are only answering a call that has already come from him. And the response to that call is to "bear fruit", lasting fruit. Our lives must be productive in love, in caring, in justice, in compassion, in building up the Kingdom. And we need have no fear. God is with us, everything we need will be given to us to become fruitful. He repeats commandment: Love one another. How much of this is descriptive of our lives? In Christian community, love must prevail, not fashions or devotions, but always and only love and on this - alas - we still have to understand and convert. So, let us let the Lord do it!
We experience his love as an ongoing reality each time we receive the sacraments, but also each time we reflect on the fact that he is keeping us in existence. This personal experience enables us both to understand love and want to share it.
Lord, you command us to love one another as you have loved us: convert our heart to yours, to become a sign of your love for humanity, sweet Lord!