5th Sunday Easter C / Love as I have Love you
 

Acts 14:21-27/ Ps 145/ Rev 21:1-5/ Jn 14:23-29
  Introduction
 

          Christians have always had the problem of how to tell the world who they are. At some periods in history and still in some places in the world, uniforms, habits, badges, banners and pins have played a very important role in announcing our identity to the world. Jesus himself wrestled with the question of how to distinguish his followers from the non-believers around them. But his prescription goes much farther than external habits and uniforms. For Jesus the essential mark of distinction between Christians and non-Christians is not in the way we dress but in the way we live.

  
  Background
 
  1. The excerpt from the first reading in Acts describes the conclusion of Paul’s first missionary journey. Upon returning to Antioch, he and Barnabas call the church together and report on what God has done with them and through them to open the door of faith to the Gentiles. In other words, they bear witness that God has triumphed, not only in Israel but also among the nations.

  2. In the vision of Revelation, today’s second reading; the triumph of God is fully realized. God takes up residence with the human race, and all things are made new. But this newness is already accessible to us, says Jesus, if we have love for one another. For him, God came to dwell with the human race and God remains with us, if we love one another as he loved us.

  3. In today’s Gospel, the triumph of God is revealed in the way Christ obeyed the Father and the manner he loved us until death. Jesus is now urging us to love our neighbor in the same way.
 
  Reflection:  
            We want to love. But most often we base our love in human perspective that seeks happiness of self than the other. It is the kind of love that thinks of happiness than pain. Christ called us not simply to love, but to love the same way He loved us. And that is to love until the cross, up to the pain of death without seeking anything in return. The following thoughts are the kind of love he had shown, and those are the same love we have to share to our neighbor:

  1. He loved his disciples selflessly. Even in the noblest human love there remains some element of self. We so often think-maybe unconsciously-of what we are to get.  So often at the back of things it is our happiness that we are seeking. But Jesus never thought of himself. His one desire was to give himself and all he had for those he loved.

  2. Jesus loved his disciples forgivingly. His apostles forsake him in his hour of need. They were blind and insensitive, slow to learn and lacking in understanding. In the end they were craven cowards. But Jesus held nothing against hem; there was no failure which he could not forgive. For Jesus the very reason for all enduring love must be build on forgiveness, for without forgiveness it is bound to fail.

  3. Jesus loved his disciples sacrificially. There was no limit to what his love would give or to where it would go. If love meant the Cross, Jesus was prepared to go there. Sometimes we make the mistake of thinking that love is meant to give us happiness. Actually in the end it does, but love has to pass through pain and sacrifices first, in order to draw the genuine act of love that produces happiness in life.
 
  Conclusion  
 

         Religious Vocation is not a matter of mathematical demands; it is about generosity and love. If Christ gave up his life and died on the cross to respond to the call the Father. Then how do we respond to His divine calling.  If I will be asked, “given a chance to be born a second time, would you still chose priesthood?” I can look directly to your eyes and give my consistent – “yes.” For me, one lifetime is not enough, to be offered to our God, who is so loving and so kind. One lifetime is not enough to respond His call . . . the call to love.