6th Sunday of Easter
Acts 10:25-26 1 John 4:7-10 John 15:9-17
One of the outstanding features of our Liturgies in the time after Easter is the readings from the Acts of the Apostles. This book of the New Testament is the record of the activities of the early Church community and the mission and ministry of Saint Paul and the Apostles. We are struck by their enthusiasm, courage and deep Faith. We can see them as models for all who are called to build up the Kingdom of God. Perhaps we feel that they had an advantage over the rest of us, having walked and talked with the Lord first-hand.
Of course this motivated them and the promises made to them by the Lord assured them beyond description. The message of last Sunday’s Gospel reading – the Vine and the Branches – would have impressed upon them that they were truly part of the Lord himself and that they were drawing energy, sap, from Him, the true Vine. He had sent the Spirit to empower them and they were allowing the Spirit freedom to work in and through them. They were determined to bear fruit because it was the way to prove that they were faithful disciples (John 15:8).
In today’s Liturgy we read from the teachings of Saint Peter and Saint John. Peter tells us that God loves us all equally no matter who we are or where we come from. John explains that it is all explained by the concept and reality of Love. God is Love and we are of God. We are like God, and just as God has loved us, we must love one another.
Of course there are many ways of ‘loving’, from the simple kind of seeking pleasure to the most disinterested kind, from the most physical kind to the most spiritual kind. Saint Augustine draws the distinction; “from the love of self which excludes God to the love of God which excludes self”.
The central part of the discourse of Jesus to the apostles at the Last Supper starts with “As the Father has loved me, so I have loved you”. This is Divine Love. Divine love comes to us in three stages. Firstly God created us because, as Saint Thomas Aquinas said “Love did not allow God to remain alone!” So, the beginning of human life, Our life, is an act of the Father. The next stage of divine love is that God sent Jesus to us and Jesus expressed that love so much that He called us “friends”. The third stage of divine love is in the gift of the Holy Spirit who implants God’s love in us and enables us “to love one another”.
It may seem almost impossible but we are called, commanded, to “Love one another as I have loved you”. But Saint John repeats this lesson, command, of the Lord, “Let us love one another”. Natural love is love limited to certain people and excludes others. Divine Love, loving as God loves, entails the very basic Christian virtue of Forgiveness, Mercy and Acceptance. For a second time, at the end of this teaching on Love, Jesus calls; “What I command you is to love one another”.
We can only pray that we will be given the grace!