John 13:31-35
Dear Friends, The Church gives us thirteen weeks to prepare for and then celebrate, ponder and pray over the reality of the Pascal Mystery, Christ’s Death and Resurrection. This event taps into the most basic human realities, life and death, sin and grace. Our tendency, after the beauty of Holy Week, is to float over this Easter Season and miss the profound message.
In today’s second reading from Revelation (21:1-5) we read this, “Behold God’s dwelling is with the human race. He will dwell with them and they will be his people and God himself will always be with them as their God. He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and there shall be no more death or mourning, wailing or pain, for the old order has passed away.” (Rev21:3-4)
This is just one more way of expressing the beauty and the marvel of God’s love in the Pascal Mystery. God has spoken and the last word is not pain and suffering, but healing. The last word is not the injustice, poverty and war that so engulfs our life and world but reconciliation, peace and justice. The last word is not hate and division that surrounds us but love. The Lord has conquered death and called us to eternal life, a glorious state that begins when we love one another.
Today’s Gospel opens with these words of Jesus: “Now is the Son of Man glorified and God is glorified in him.” (John 13:31) This glory means the hidden God is revealed. Jesus goes on to state that this glory, this revelation of God, will happen when we love one another as he has loved us. This is his command. We are to love one another.
A perfect example of this new love is to wash the feet of one another which is, in effect, unlimited service and availability to one another. Jesus wants us to simply relate to our brothers and sisters in a spirit of self-sacrifice. In this way, we make Jesus present to the world even in his apparent absence.
Jesus is telling us the great witness of the Church should be the witness of love. The first step toward this witnessing love is be open and humble in the midst of Jesus’ love for us. The definition of a witness is one whose life speaks so loudly and clearly that we cannot hear what he or she is saying. In our day we have been blessed with the witness of Pope Francis.
This call to love and witness is an invitation to contemplate the Pascal Mystey of the Death and Resurrection. There is no greater expression of God’s love than the Crucified and Risen Christ. The Cross tells us that God is love, self-sacrificing love. The depth and breadth of this truth demands reflection, prayer and lived experience of love on our part. This is the only way to enter into the wonder of God’s call to love one another.
This lesson of love that leads to eternal life engulfs the entire Easter message. This is what the passage from the Book of Revelation and Jesus’ command to love one another as he loved us is telling us. We find it so hard to believe when we face the reality of our daily life and our world or just simply read our morning news source. This is why we have to move slowly and steadily into this great event of our faith, this great final expression of God’s love, this final word of life and love and healing. This is what we mean when we proclaim that Christ is risen, Alleluia, Alleluia!
Last week, we were invited in the Scriptures to embrace the greatest of the gifts of Christ’s victory, eternal life. Today, we are called to realize with new insight and wisdom this profound truth. A life committed to love is eternal life for us right now. When we love as Jesus did, we are living the Pascal Mystery of the Death and Resurrection. When we love as Jesus did, we break loose of the bonds of sin and death. When we love as Jesus did we express the seed of life that is Christ within us. We begin our eternity now when we walk in the way of love with Jesus. “As I have loved you, so should you love one another. (John 13:34)
In today’s second reading from Revelation (21:1-5) we read this, “Behold God’s dwelling is with the human race. He will dwell with them and they will be his people and God himself will always be with them as their God. He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and there shall be no more death or mourning, wailing or pain, for the old order has passed away.” (Rev21:3-4)
This is just one more way of expressing the beauty and the marvel of God’s love in the Pascal Mystery. God has spoken and the last word is not pain and suffering, but healing. The last word is not the injustice, poverty and war that so engulfs our life and world but reconciliation, peace and justice. The last word is not hate and division that surrounds us but love. The Lord has conquered death and called us to eternal life, a glorious state that begins when we love one another.
Today’s Gospel opens with these words of Jesus: “Now is the Son of Man glorified and God is glorified in him.” (John 13:31) This glory means the hidden God is revealed. Jesus goes on to state that this glory, this revelation of God, will happen when we love one another as he has loved us. This is his command. We are to love one another.
A perfect example of this new love is to wash the feet of one another which is, in effect, unlimited service and availability to one another. Jesus wants us to simply relate to our brothers and sisters in a spirit of self-sacrifice. In this way, we make Jesus present to the world even in his apparent absence.
Jesus is telling us the great witness of the Church should be the witness of love. The first step toward this witnessing love is be open and humble in the midst of Jesus’ love for us. The definition of a witness is one whose life speaks so loudly and clearly that we cannot hear what he or she is saying. In our day we have been blessed with the witness of Pope Francis.
This call to love and witness is an invitation to contemplate the Pascal Mystey of the Death and Resurrection. There is no greater expression of God’s love than the Crucified and Risen Christ. The Cross tells us that God is love, self-sacrificing love. The depth and breadth of this truth demands reflection, prayer and lived experience of love on our part. This is the only way to enter into the wonder of God’s call to love one another.
This lesson of love that leads to eternal life engulfs the entire Easter message. This is what the passage from the Book of Revelation and Jesus’ command to love one another as he loved us is telling us. We find it so hard to believe when we face the reality of our daily life and our world or just simply read our morning news source. This is why we have to move slowly and steadily into this great event of our faith, this great final expression of God’s love, this final word of life and love and healing. This is what we mean when we proclaim that Christ is risen, Alleluia, Alleluia!
Last week, we were invited in the Scriptures to embrace the greatest of the gifts of Christ’s victory, eternal life. Today, we are called to realize with new insight and wisdom this profound truth. A life committed to love is eternal life for us right now. When we love as Jesus did, we are living the Pascal Mystery of the Death and Resurrection. When we love as Jesus did, we break loose of the bonds of sin and death. When we love as Jesus did we express the seed of life that is Christ within us. We begin our eternity now when we walk in the way of love with Jesus. “As I have loved you, so should you love one another. (John 13:34)
