6th Sunday of Easter Time Year B - 9/5/2021 - Gospel: Jn 15: 9-17
Remain In God's Love- John 15:9-17
The Gospel of St. John makes clear, God loves the world so much that God sent God's only Son to save the fallen world. Jesus, the second person of God, known to the world as God's only Son, came into the world to execute God's saving mission. Jesus chose to give up His own life, died on the cross, to reveal God's love for the world. He is the mirror of God's love for the world. Through Jesus, we know how much God loves the world, and through Him we know how much Jesus loves us. Jesus called His disciples to learn from Him: 'Love one and other as I have loved you v.12 '. Those who genuinely respond to this call of love are Jesus' true disciples.
There is some kind of elevation in loving. Through our love for one another, the world sees Jesus' love which is active in the lives of His disciples. Through Jesus' Passion and Death, He had made His Father's love known. Jesus' resurrection showed the unbreakable bond between the Father and Jesus.
It is unmistakable that true love must be accompanied by loving actions, because love without actions is merely a theory of love. True love is contradiction in terms, because an act of true love requires that something dies to give life for something else. God's love for the world is true and visible through Jesus' Incarnation, Death, and Ascension. Jesus showed the depth of His love for mankind by self-sacrificing on the cross. He chose to die for us, His friends, to demonstrate the Father's love for mankind.
Jesus' disciples show true love for Him by keeping His commandments to love. They are not 'new' commandments, but the same commandments the Father gave Jesus. He had perfected them. He now passed them on to His disciples to observe. Abiding in God's love is for a single, noble purpose, and that is to give glory to the Father. Keeping Jesus' commandments elevates Jesus' disciples to the level of friend of the Lord. This is not an ordinary friendship, but divine friendship. An ordinary friendship is defined by mutual interest, and give and take. God takes nothing back from God's divine friendship, but God gives out-pouring love for those who love God. Jesus told us, in His name, God will grant what we ask for. God's generosity is beyond our comprehension. God always gives what is best for us. God gives out of love, and we learn to appreciate God's out pouring love for us.
'You are my friends, if you do what I command you... I call you friends, because I have made known to you everything I have learnt from my Father' Jn 15:15.
Keeping Jesus' commandments forges mutual, abiding relationships. One of the ways to keep Jesus' commandments is praying. Our prayer doesn't remain at an earthly level, but Jesus will lift our prayers up to the Father.
Abiding in, and keeping Jesus' commandments makes us friends of Jesus, and through Him, God the Father listens to our prayers. Abiding in Jesus gives us a personal experience of God's love. We are grateful for the heavenly love Jesus has given us. In responding to Jesus' love, we offer our own heart to Jesus, and that is all we have to offer.
There is some kind of elevation in loving. Through our love for one another, the world sees Jesus' love which is active in the lives of His disciples. Through Jesus' Passion and Death, He had made His Father's love known. Jesus' resurrection showed the unbreakable bond between the Father and Jesus.
It is unmistakable that true love must be accompanied by loving actions, because love without actions is merely a theory of love. True love is contradiction in terms, because an act of true love requires that something dies to give life for something else. God's love for the world is true and visible through Jesus' Incarnation, Death, and Ascension. Jesus showed the depth of His love for mankind by self-sacrificing on the cross. He chose to die for us, His friends, to demonstrate the Father's love for mankind.
Jesus' disciples show true love for Him by keeping His commandments to love. They are not 'new' commandments, but the same commandments the Father gave Jesus. He had perfected them. He now passed them on to His disciples to observe. Abiding in God's love is for a single, noble purpose, and that is to give glory to the Father. Keeping Jesus' commandments elevates Jesus' disciples to the level of friend of the Lord. This is not an ordinary friendship, but divine friendship. An ordinary friendship is defined by mutual interest, and give and take. God takes nothing back from God's divine friendship, but God gives out-pouring love for those who love God. Jesus told us, in His name, God will grant what we ask for. God's generosity is beyond our comprehension. God always gives what is best for us. God gives out of love, and we learn to appreciate God's out pouring love for us.
'You are my friends, if you do what I command you... I call you friends, because I have made known to you everything I have learnt from my Father' Jn 15:15.
Keeping Jesus' commandments forges mutual, abiding relationships. One of the ways to keep Jesus' commandments is praying. Our prayer doesn't remain at an earthly level, but Jesus will lift our prayers up to the Father.
Abiding in, and keeping Jesus' commandments makes us friends of Jesus, and through Him, God the Father listens to our prayers. Abiding in Jesus gives us a personal experience of God's love. We are grateful for the heavenly love Jesus has given us. In responding to Jesus' love, we offer our own heart to Jesus, and that is all we have to offer.
Written by Fr Vũđình Tường
St Francis Xavier Catholic Parish
Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Brisbane Australia
St Francis Xavier Catholic Parish
Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Brisbane Australia
