Sunday, May 5, 2024

SIXTH SUNDAY OF EASTER, May 5, 2024

(Acts 10:25-26,34-35,44-48; I John 4:7-10; John 15:9-17)

The gospel and the second reading today touch on a central theme of our faith. We believe that God created us out of love and wants us to love around Him and others. But in the world love is often talked about in unedifying ways. Therefore, it is worth asking: what kind of love does God want from us? And how can we distinguish it from unworthy kinds of love?

We can begin with the first reading of the Acts of the apostles. Peter baptizes the non-Jews when he sees them showing the effects of the Holy Spirit. On this occasion the Spirit moves the house of Cornelius to speak in unknown tongues proclaiming the greatness of God. As revealing as this display of the Spirit is, its effects are most often seen in sacrificial love. Saint Paul says in his First Letter to the Corinthians that sacrificial love is more perfect than any other endowment of the Holy Spirit.

In the gospel Jesus gives an account of this sacrificial love. He is with disciples having dinner for the last time before his death. He has just washed his feet, and now he is in the middle of explaining the meaning of this surprising action. He says that he did it with the same love with which the Father loves him. He has placed his disciples on the same level that he occupies. They are no longer servants; from now on they are his friends. As people close to him, Jesus will give his life for them. In response to this love, he asks them to be ready to do the same for him and for each other.

Through Baptism we are included in this circle of friends of Jesus. He died on the cross so that we may have freedom from sin and the destiny of eternal life. As heirs of these gifts, we are also obligated to perform such acts of sacrificial love. We see this love in the heroic acts of the saints. Saint Maximilian Kolbe, a Franciscan, gave his life to save that of a father in a concentration camp during World War II. After the Nazis chose the man as a scapegoat, the saint offered his life in his place. Saint Gianna Beretta Molla chose to risk her own life to save the child in her womb infected by a fibroid. As a result, she gave birth to her fourth child, but she died from complications contracted when she had the fibroid removed.

Sacrificial love is also found in charitable acts done every day. Saint Paul describes these acts to the Corinthians with a particular finesse: “Love is patient, love is kind. It is not jealous, (love) is not pompous, it is not inflated, it is not rude, it does not seek its own interests, it is not quick-tempered, it does not brood over injury…” (I Cor 13:4-5). Those parish members who visit prisons, hospitals, and nursing homes in nursing homes demonstrate this kind of love.

There is another type of love much talked about. It is inferior to sacrificial love because it seeks illicit pleasure, not the true good of his beloved. Illicit pleasure refers to the union of unmarried couples. Although society no longer censors this type of love, it offends God's plan. As the first book of the Bible describes, God created man and woman to become one flesh and thus multiply, subdue the earth and take care of it. When a person ignores God's will, he not only breaks a commandment but also involves his partner in sin.

God strengthens us with his Spirit so that we love in truth. The Spirit is ours simply for the asking. When we ask for specific things, we don't always receive them because God has something else in mind for us. But he will never deprive us of the Holy Spirit precisely because the spirit enables us to love in the best sense.