6th Sunday of Easter

We are invited today to reflect on Jesus’ command to love. As we have seen over the past couple of weeks, the apostles are finding that their preaching is leading to many conversions. And as the flock grows so do the concerns, including their own fears as to how Jesus will remain with them.
Jesus assures them and us that he is not gone, although he doesn’t walk among us as he did his apostles and disciples in Galilee and Jerusalem; he remained present to them and on down through the ages to us in many ways. How is He present to us today, right here, right now in our daily lives? He remains present to us in the sacraments, especially today in the Eucharist and the scriptures where he reveals to us who he is in the sacred scriptures but even more so when we receive him in Holy Communion where he gives us himself as real food and real drink. Jesus is in this assembly, we embody the Risen Christ when we gather as a believing community and forth, through others that we meet along our daily path.
Jesus assured the apostles and us that he would not abandon us. As scripture says, “I will not leave you orphaned.” He promised to be with us always and to send us the Holy Spirit to dwell within us. In the early church the Holy Spirit was to be an advocate on our behalf. In Greek, the “Paraclete” or intercessor. In fact there are many very descriptive words for the Holy Spirit: Counselor, Protector, Supporter, Comforter, Helper, and Consoler. Jesus remains with us in many ways.
We witness this clearly in the Acts of the Apostles where the preaching of Philip converts many to the faith and were baptized. Upon hearing this Peter and John go to Samaria and there see for themselves the tremendous change that has taken place among the Samaritans. As you may recall the Jews and the Samaritans had a real hate for each other. Nevertheless, through Philips witnessing conversions took place. John and Peter seeing this marvelous transformation, lay hands on those who have been baptized and call down the Holy Spirit, the helper, and the intercessor to remain with the people and keep them strong in their new found faith in Jesus Christ.
Coming to faith in Jesus is difficult enough, but remaining true to his commandment, “Love one another as I love you,” is the constant difficult task that Jesus gave us. Loving each other doesn’t mean the occasional pat on the back or a passing hug or even saying, “I love you” as we often times do in greeting others without really thinking about what we are saying.
It may be the first or second most used four letter word in the English language and therefore just rolls off the end of our tongue without much thought. Like, hey what’s up, what’s happening, love you, that take on a sort of friendly greeting, if that, because we are not very mindful of what we are saying. This becomes so evident to me when people spend more time texting each other on their cell phones than really speaking face to face. Some people I know can text 3 or 4 people all at the same time. It even has its own language. This type of communication stands in stark contrast with real expressions of our love for another; where we take time to express our love for those certain few in our lives when we send a card on their birthday, or send flowers on Mother’s Day and anniversaries, or a telephone call or spend some quality time out to dinner and look each other straight in the eyes and say, “I love you.” Then love becomes real and tangible.
This is how we express our love when we really mean it. The Holy Spirit is the real love between the Father and the Son. In order for love to be real, it needs to be expressed in a conscious, and heart felt way. That is why God came to us, took on our human form as Jesus and laid down his life for us thus showing us the depth and truth of real love. We can talk about love until we are blue in the face, but it means nothing, as St. Paul tells us, “you are nothing more than a crashing symbol,” until we put our love into real action.
Why is it so difficult for us to love others, including sometimes even our own family members or friends, not to mention those that we see as being so different from ourselves? Because our human nature is weak: we make mistakes; we make judgments about others, often times based only on exterior appearances; we are selfish, we spend way too much time thinking about our desires, the things we want; where most of the world worries about their essential needs of clear water, food, and shelter.
God doesn’t begrudge us our needs or even some of our wants, however, his commandment is clear, “Love one another as I love you.” This means taking and using only what we need, so that those who have nothing might have their basic needs met. As Christians we are called to look after our neighbor, to do our best at helping those that have so little, so they might have their basic needs met.
Just one example to prove my point; the U.S produces 21% of the world’s oil, but uses close to 75% of the world’s total production. We spend far too much money and time worrying about our wants, than on sharing and giving to those who have not. And so the gap between what we say and profess in faith, to love and care for others, grows ever deeper and wider.
Jesus acted in love and in this way showed us how we are to love. It’s not just another four letter word, but has to be one that has consequences in a real and felt way. Jesus new this would be difficult for us, so he sent us the Holy Spirit, the Paraclete – the intercessor and consoler to be with us always to carry on his ministry through us at least as much as we care for ourselves.
We most often hear those words of love from First Corinthians at weddings, “Love is patient, love is kind, love does not give false witness, love is all bearing, love never gives up.” Is this kind of love really possible? Yes it is because we play a crucial part in this divine mutuality of love between the Father and the Son.
As I indicated in the beginning, Jesus does not leave us orphans he will come back for us. For the early church this meant that Jesus would soon return, the Parousia or second coming would happen rather quickly. However for John, the Parousia refers to the indwelling of the Holy Spirit; whereby we are incorporated into the divine mutual love of Father, Son and disciple (us). In following Jesus we partake in this mutuality of love between the Father and the Son.
Something to think about this week: what does the word love mean to you? Is love a motivating factor in your life? And if so, in what way do you make love real and tangible in your daily life? And finally, how do you experience the Holy Spirit motivating you to go beyond just taking care of your own needs and desires?