JESUS ASKS US TO LOVE ONE ANOTHER Week B-E6
John 15: 9-17
As the Father loves me, so I also love you. Remain in my love. If you keep my commandments, you will remain in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commandments and remain in his love.“ I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and your joy may be complete. This is my commandment: love one another as I love you. No one has greater love than this, to lay down one’s life for one’s friends. You are my friends if you do what I command you. I no longer call you slaves, because a slave does not know what his master is doing. I have called you friends, because I have told you everything I have heard from my Father. It was not you who chose me, but I who chose you and appointed you to go and bear fruit that will remain, so that whatever you ask the Father in my name he may give you. This I command you: love one another.
In today’s Gospel, Jesus teaches us true love. The greatest act of love is self-giving. “No one has greater love than this, to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.” Jesus demonstrated the perfect love for us with His death for our sins on the cross. “As the Father loves me, so I also love you.” True Christian love springs from the love of the Father and the Son. “Remain in my love”. Jesus invites us to live in union with Him, as He is the source of joy. Jesus remains in the love of the Father observing the commandments that He received from His Father. We should remain in the love of Jesus by observing the commandments that He has left for us, in the same manner in which he
observed the commandments of the Father. He elevates us from being a slave to being His friends and shares with us all the blessings that He receives from the Father. The love of Christ mandates us to love one another, not just as we love ourselves, but as He loves us. As loving disciples of Christ, we are called to transform our own selfishness into selfless acts toward others. Our mission is to live according to God’s wills, to proclaim the Gospel until the end and produce abundant spiritual fruits of conversion and faith.
As members of the Vietnamese Eucharistic Youth, we are reminded to show our love for God and others through a life of prayer, sacrifice, communion, and apostolic works. Prayers and spiritual communion will strengthen our faith, love and bond with Jesus. In prayers, Jesus will reveal Himself to us in each person we meet. St. Paul tells us that love is the greatest of the theological virtues: "So faith, hope, love abide, these three; but the greatest of these is love" (1 Cor. 13:13). Love and charity are often seen as the same virtue. If we follow God’s two greatest commandments – To love God above all things and to love our neighbors as He loves us – then we must show charity toward everyone, even our enemies.
Jesus has revealed the depth of His love by sacrificing His life for us. Are we willing and ready to make the same sacrifice?
[ LOVE ] Love - Any strong affection, closeness, or devotion to things or persons.
How do we carry out Christ’s command: “Love one another as I love you”?
“Remain in my love.” Spend some moments of peace and quiet solitude with Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament.
We have been chosen by Christ to go and bear abundant fruit. How do we respond to His call?
“This I command you: love one another.” Offer a loving and kind act to another person in your family or community.
“This is my commandment: love one another as I love you. ” (John 15:12) O Lord God, we love You above all things and we love our neighbors for Your sake because You are the highest, infinite and perfect good, worthy of all our love. In this love we intend to live and die. Amen.
