Fr Jack SJ MD: Love Makes the World Go Round

7^th Sunday of Easter

Acts 1:15-17, 20a, 20c-26

Ps 102

1Jn 4-11-16

Jn 17:11b-19

Thursday we celebrated the Ascension of Our Lord on Thursday marking forty days after Jesus’ resurrection. One week from today we will celebrate the Feast of Pentecost and the descent of the Holy Spirit. We have celebrated the full Glorification Event of Jesus, from His birth, to His death, resurrection, and ascension into heaven. The day after Pentecost we will resume ordinary time which will continue throughout the summer and most of the autumn until the new liturgical year begins on November 28^th the first Sunday of Advent.

During the fifty days after Easter we heard of the coming together of the community that believed Jesus to be the Messiah, the Promised One, the Christ. We read a few weeks ago: “It was an Antioch that they were first called Christians.” At no time in the history of the world since then have there not been those who are called, and who call themselves, Christian. It wasn’t always smooth. It still isn't. Sinful human nature raised its head more than once in the history of the early Church. As it continues to raise its head today. That too is unlikely to change.

In today's reading from Acts we see Peter coming into his own as leader of the Church, the rock upon which the Church was built. It was necessary to choose a man to take the place of Judas, the suicide. Rather than a contentious campaign or vetting possible replacements by a committee of apostles, Peter opted to flip a coin to determine who, between two men, would take that place. The coin toss favored Matthias whose feast we celebrated on the 14th.

The second reading from the First Letter of John begins with a difficult mandate. “Beloved, if God so loved us, we also must love one another. . . . if we love one another, God remains in us, and his love is brought to perfection in us.”

“We also must love one another.”

There is nothing unique about the commandment to love. There is nothing specifically Christian about the command to love others as you love yourself. All of the world’s great religions have some variation of what is called the Golden Rule to love others, to treat others as you yourself wish to be treated, to do unto others as you would have them do unto you. Nothing about that commandment makes it uniquely Christian.

As the late Jesuit scripture scholar Father Stanley Marrow explained in his commentary, “loving with . . . utter selflessness, even to laying down of one’s life, is not uniquely Christian. What . . . must distinguish Christians is: when they love, they love as Christ loved them and because he loved them.” We can appear to love others for many reasons. But only when we love because Jesus loved us, can we truly say we love. Father's commentary is a welcome antidote to the appalling post-Vatican II song--one cannot call it a hymn--"They Will Know We Are Christian By Our Love"-- a song with a thumping beat, a hilariously simple-minded chorus, and narcissistic lyrics, one would assume love is a copyrighted characteristic of Christianity. It is not though self-adultation certainly comes through in the lyrics.

John's Gospel is fascinating and, at times, challenging to read. John gives us a unique understanding of Jesus, a unique Christology, compared with Matthew, Mark and Luke. John focuses on the meaning of the events of Jesus' life for our salvation. The Gospel reading today was the last half of chapter 17 of John's Gospel a chapter is sometimes referred to as the High Priestly Prayer.

It is unique because there are no parables, stories, discourse, instruction, or dialogue with the apostles. The chapter is one long prayer from Jesus to the Father as he prepares to enter into his passion. It is a chapter worth reading slowly at home. It is deserving of prolonged meditation.

As the second reading challenges our concept of love the Gospel challenges our relationship with the world. “I gave them your word, and the world hated them because they do not belong to the world . . . I do not ask that you take them out of the world but that you keep them from the evil one”

We cannot afford not to be in the world. Nor can we afford to be OF the world.

We can only remain in God, we can only remain in love, if we live in accordance with God's Word. We can only remain in love if we preach the Gospel of Jesus on a constant basis, and necessarily by what we say. We may be more effective when we live according to the Gospel and preach that Gospel to all whom we meet through our actions, using words only when needed.

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Some night shots from Ljubljana, Slovenia. One of the great advantages of being there was that our community was a short and very safe walk from the center of the city (the two safest cities I've ever lived in have been Taipei and Ljubljana. Midnight photography was completely anxiety free. No way in hell would I go to do night photography in D.C.).