Remain In My Love (6th Sunday of Easter)
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May 3, 2018This week’s Gospel picks up where last week’s left off, and we hear Jesus continuing to teach us the metaphor of the vine and the branches.
And like last week, the First Reading is an example in the early Church of what happens when we remain on the vine.
While this week is certainly a deepening of last week’s themes, there is at least one new dimension. In the First Reading, we see another Pentecost take place when Peter preaches the Gospel to the first Gentiles. We see Peter’s life bearing much fruit in all of these new believers, but we also see Peter as the head of the Church discerning God’s will in that moment. Because Peter, and thus the Church, was attached to the vine, he was able to perceive the new movement of the Holy Spirit to welcome Gentiles into the new covenant.
The Catholic Church plays a vital role in our ability to remain on the vine throughout all of history. As new circumstances arise, God has given us the gift of the Church to help us recognize where his love is so that we can remain with him. We know that God does not ask anything from us without giving us the grace to respond, and that grace always flows through his Church so that we can be assured that we are truly following him in all truth.
First Reading Reflection
Acts 10:25−26, 34−35, 44−48In this reading from the Acts of the Apostles, we encounter the first Gentiles to be received into the Christian community. Until now, all those who have entered are converts from Judaism. Peter, who hasjust seen a vision showing him that God no longer distinguishes between clean and unclean, is summoned to the home of Cornelius, a God-fearing man who is nevertheless a Gentile. Suddenly, the Holy Spirit is poured out in an astounding way on all those in Cornelius’s household, even before they are baptized! Peter understands the message. God welcomes the Gentiles into full communion in the new covenant and endows them with the gifts of the Holy Spirit. Those who had been considered outsiders are now insiders, chosen and accepted by God. Peter, who once would not even associate with Gentiles much less enter their homes, now welcomes these converts and calls for their Baptism.
What emerges from this story is the all-encompassing love of God who is ready to embrace all those who seek him. The community of faith has become inclusive—all are welcome, no one is excluded. As followers of Christ, we too are challenged to welcome those who seek out God. We need to ask ourselves if we are as welcoming and ready to accept newcomers into our community as Peter was with Cornelius and his household. In a world that seeks to create and magnify division, we Christians are called to embrace and unite, spurred by grace and the love of God in our own lives.
Second Reading Reflection
1 John 4:7−10In these 4 short verses, St. John uses the word “love” nine times! His message is very clear. God is love, and love is his first gift to us. God is an exchange of love between the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. God invites us to share in that exchange of love by pouring out his love into our hearts through the Holy Spirit. We who have been created by God out of love are called to love in return; love is our fundamental vocation. The way we can be sure that God lives in us is if we love as God loves.
Since we are made in the image and likeness of God, love is what he asks of us in return. God’s gift to us is his beloved Son, sent to offer himself as expiation for our sins so we might have eternal life through him. This is the good news that we are called to share with others. Our mission as Christians to share the good news is rooted in God’s very identity as love itself. Jesus summarizes the commandments for us in terms of love: love God and love neighbor as yourself. Bottom line, how well we love is the measure of our union with God and the benchmark by which we will ultimately be judged by Christ.
Gospel Reading Reflection
John 15:9−17Last week, we saw Jesus use the analogy of the vine and branches to teach us about discipleship. To be fruitful disciples, we need to abide in him. In the Gospel passage for this week, Jesus tells us that we abide in him through love. Jesus loves his disciples with the divine love that the Father gives him. This agape love or selfless love is the very same love manifested by the Father when he sends his son into the world (cf. John 3:16). The assurance of this love brings us joy and calls for a response from us, the same kind of response that Jesus gives the Father through unconditional obedience to him. We also must manifest our reciprocal love to God through obedience to his commandments. The love that Jesus gives and desires in return is not a purely emotional love based on feelings but one that is based on action, specifically in laying down one’s life for the good of others just as Jesus did for each of us. Our Christian joy spurs us on to this Christ-like love.
Our joy is founded on our friendship with Christ. Jesus calls his disciples friends for whom he lays down his life. We are no longer slaves because we share in the same mission with Jesus. However, our friendship is based on obedience in the same way that the love of the Father and the Son requires obedience. We have been called by Jesus to share in his friendship and mission to bring Christ’s love to others and bear fruit for the kingdom. As privileged members of God’s family, chosen by him and with our wills aligned to his, we can confidently bring all our needs to God in prayer entrusted to the name of Jesus, knowing that God will answer our prayers (cf. 1 John 5:14).
DIGGING DEEPER:
ACT OF FAITHToday we’re learning about the Catholic Church as the one true faith, and the Holy Spirit as alive and active in our lives in supernatural ways just as in the early Church. These can be radical truths to confront, and making an Act of Faith in times when we don’t fully comprehend but want to believe can help keep us open to what God is trying to reveal to us:
O my God, I fi rmly believe that you are one God in three divine Persons, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. I believe that your divine Son became man and died for our sins and that he will come to judge the living and the dead. I believe these and all the truths which the Holy Catholic Church teaches because you have revealed them who are eternal truth and wisdom, who can neither deceive nor be deceived. In this faith I intend to live and die. Amen
PRAYER:
Return to the Gospel for today. Jesus continues teaching us the metaphor of the vine and the branches, emphasizing that he is telling us these things so that our joy will be complete. He knows how he made us and that we are destined to be in perfect communion with God and one another, and he off ers it to us freely if we will only remain in his love! Take the word that comes to mind and refl ect on what it means to you personally. For example, the phrase “I have told you everything I have heard from my Father” might have stuck out to you. Ask yourself what this means in your own life. Is Jesus encouraging you that it is indeed him speaking through the Church through the ages, even now, to tell you all that he has heard from the Father? © Augustine Institute.
RESOLUTION:
This week we realize an even deeper dimension of the metaphor of remaining on the vine. Jesus has given us the gift of his Church so that we can be assured that we are remaining with him in all truth. To live out our lives of faith attached to the Church is to remain with Jesus. The Catechism teaches us that “‘The Church’ is the People that God gathers in the whole world. She exists in local communities and is made real as a liturgical, above all a Eucharistic, assembly. She draws her life from the word and the Body of Christ and so herself becomes Christ’s Body.”
Here we see that to remain with the Church is to above all remain with the Eucharist. This is the spiritual food that attaches us to the vine. As the branch is one with the vine, so we become one with Christ in his gift of the Eucharist that unites us as one Church.
How can you live a more Eucharistic life this week?
Reprinted from Opening the Word at Formed.org .
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