Homily For The Sixth Sunday Of Easter, Year B, May 5, 2024
“Love to be real, it must cost—it must hurt—it must empty us of self.” -Saint Teresa of Calcutta
Sunday Readings
“Everyone who loves is begotten by God and knows God. Whoever is without love does not know God, for God is love”.
My Dearest Friends in Christ,
I warmly welcome you to the Lord’s Supper on this 6th Sunday of the Lord’s Resurrection. Today the readings echo one single theme and that is “LOVE” which is the quintessence of our Christianity.
Love Is Our Christian Identity
Although seriously misunderstood and misinterpreted, love defines who we are and in what we believe. “By this shall all men know that you are my disciples if you love one another.“ (cf. John 13:35) By implication, without love, we cease to be identified as Christ’s disciples, and that means a loss of our identity. Love is the standard by which we shall all be judged before the Judgement Throne of God on the last day. (cf. Mathew 25:34-36) People and cultures may vary in their opinions and descriptions of what love is, but it remains the universal language that all hear and speak. The Greeks gave us a tripartite distinction of love. The first is Eros or sexual love. The second is Philia, which is friendship as in the case of David and Jonathan, and the third is Agape, which is sacrificial love as exemplified by Christ.
Love Isn’t Just a Feeling
Love could be thought of as a feeling, emotion, or virtue. But one underlying fact is that love deals with our reaction, sensitivity, concern, and sacrifice for others. It is essentially defined in terms of the other and not based on oneself. The worldly man or woman may limit the definition of love to “falling in with” as when they say, I am falling in love with him or her. This expression reduces love to a mere feeling or emotion. While we cannot separate emotions from love, it is not a mere feeling. In my own opinion “Love” is not falling for, it is “standing in for”, such as standing in for someone sick or standing beside someone in every situation of life. It is essentially “Agape” which is selfless love; the love that sacrifices for the good of the other as exemplified by Christ with His death on the Cross. Agape explains the words of the Scriptures, “No one has greater love than this than to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.” (cf John 15:13) Love is not self-seeking, love is not just being sympathetic but empathic. It is not being egoistic but altruistic.
Paul’s Explanation of the Characteristics of True Love
St. Paul has this to say about love; “Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud…” (cf 1Cor 13:4-8) Why is there so much hatred amongst us? According to F. Fernandez: “As long as we live in the world our life is a constant struggle between love for Christ or giving into lukewarmness, to our passions, or to comfort-seeking, which destroys love.” Let’s beware of seeking comfort in our relationship with others and seek to offer the best of ourselves.
John’s explains Love as a Divine Gift, Command, and Duty
John defines God as Love, in the second reading and describes Christ’s death on the Cross as God’s expression of His love for us. Therefore this Divine Love gives us the command as well as the duty to love one another as we are loved by God. Since God has loved us first, we can and should love God in return. As I have loved you, so you also should love one another. (John 13:34)
Jesus Teaches Us His Disciples The Essence of Love
Today’s Gospel reading comes from the middle of Jesus’ “Farewell Discourse,” a lengthy section. (Jn 14—17) It is the heart-to-heart, after-dinner “table-talk” of Jesus with his disciples. Fundamentally, the first half of chapter 15 is about love: the Love of God for Jesus, the Love of Jesus for His disciples, and the love of the disciples for Jesus. Last Sunday Jesus was teaching His disciples about their relationship with Him by using the image of the vine and its branches. In the Gospel of today, He goes on to tell His disciples that it is by keeping His commandments that we can remain in His abiding love. Love has a horizontal (with each other) and a vertical dimension (with God). Our love for God must be manifested in the way we love each other. This is why 1 John 14:20 says, “For anyone who does not love his brother/sister whom he has seen, cannot love God, whom he has not seen. When we obey God’s commandments we prove our love for Christ and when we extend and express that love to others we fulfill the law.
Only love can heal our world. Only love can transform a hardened heart. There are no limits to love. There is a master-servant relationship in love, but a friendly relationship. Keep loving even when it hurts. Let true love motivate our actions. Let us transcend from mere feelings to being practical in love. Where love and charity abide, there God is found. We expel God from our lives, from our world: when we fail to love, when we are at war with each other in the family or work, when we fail to forgive those who hurt us, when we ignore and remain indifferent in the face of our suffering brothers and sisters, the sick, the homeless, the hungry.
Let us be more compassionate and open our hearts to the True Love of Christ. Love is precious, it is golden. Blessed are those who truly love. May the God of Love inspire our mothers and all others and fill us with His Grace to truly love unconditionally.
Pray the Rosary In this Month of May to seek the Intercession of Our Lady Mother of God
I keep you and your family always in my prayers. ©Clem C. Aladi (2024)
