VI SUNDAY OF EASTER - John 15:9-17
God is the source of all love because God himself is love. Created in God’s image, the more we love the more we become like Him. God’s great love for us was revealed in Jesus Christ. “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.” (Jn 3:16).
In the second reading, taken from the first letter of John, we find a clear affirmation of God’s love in Jesus Christ:
“God’s love for us was revealed when God sent into the world his only Son so that we could have life through him; this is the love I mean: not our love for God, but God’s love for us when he sent his Son to be the sacrifice that takes our sins away.” (1 Jn 4:9-10)
God loved us first. He called us by name. It is by being loved that we learn how to love. And Jesus showed us the greatest love by giving his life for us: “A man can have no greater love than to lay down his life for his friends.” And Jesus did that for us. That’s why he gave us the commandment: “This is my commandment: love one another, as I have loved you.” Jesus presented himself as the way, the only way to go to the Father, that is the only way to salvation and life. He is a role model and we must walk in his footsteps.
Love cannot be reduced to feelings and emotions that come and go. Love demands commitment and total self-giving. Love goes with keeping the commandments. For the person who loves, the commandments are not an imposition that oppresses but a guide that facilitates and strengthens the commitment to love.
In this world dominated by selfishness that leads to work for power and wealth, Jesus insists on love. That is the only commandment: “What I command you is to love one another.” If we strive for that, then we will become workers of peace.
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