Fifth Sunday of Easter Year C
May 2
"Love one Another"
1. Lectio
John 13:31-35
31 After Judas had left, Jesus said, “Now the Son of Man’s glory is revealed; now God’s glory is revealed through him. 32 And if God’s glory is revealed through him, then God will reveal the glory of the Son of Man in himself, and he will do so at once.
33 My children, I shall not be with you very much longer. You will look for me; but I tell you now what I told the Jewish authorities, ‘You cannot go where I am going.’
34 And now I give you a new commandment: love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. 35 If you have love for one another, then everyone will know that you are my disciples.”
Lectio Comments
What is so special about this ‘new’ commandment? The requirement to love God and to love our neighbour as ourself would already have been well known to the disciples from the Law of Moses (Deuteronomy 6:5 and Leviticus 19:18). In the other three Gospels this teaching is often referred to as ‘The Great Commandment’ (Matthew 22:34-40, Mark 12:28-34, Luke 10:25-28). But the ‘new commandment’ is radically different from the Great Commandment to love God and neighbour. The new challenge Jesus lays before his disciples here is to love each other ‘as I have loved you’. Jesus now makes his love the standard of all love. The starting point is not human love but God’s love. Jesus’ love for his disciples, for us, and for all people reflects the unconditional mutual love that exists between God the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. Therefore, by obeying the new commandment, Christians make God’s love, the perfect love of the Trinity, present in the world.
2. Meditatio
1. What strikes you most from these verses? Ask the Holy Spirit to speak to you.
2. How do you feel about Jesus’ command to love others as Jesus loves us?
3. Does Jesus ask the impossible? How can we try to obey this command?
4. How does God want you to express his love to another others?
3. Oratio
Let us pray Psalm 145:8-13 and reflect on the attributes of God:
The LORD is gracious and merciful, slow to anger and abounding in love.
The LORD is good to all, compassionate to every creature.
All your works give you thanks, O LORD and your faithful bless you.
They speak of the glory of your reign and tell of your great works,
Making known to all your power, the glorious splendor of your rule.
Your reign is a reign for all ages, your dominion for all generations.
The LORD is trustworthy in every word, and faithful in every work.
Amen.
4. Contemplatio
Contemplate the love God.
5. Actio
1. Personal Life – concretely express your love to a member of your family which you have not done so for a long time.
2. Communal Life – Brainstorm ways in which the community can reach out someone in need – a home for the elderly, Orang Asli village, a visit to a sick or elderly person in the BEC, squatters, migrants, refugees.
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