Sixth Sunday of Easter Acts 10:25-26, 34-35 & 44-48; 1 John 4:7-10; John 15:9-17 (Year B)
“We are frequently tempted to think that holiness is only for those who can withdraw from ordinary affairs to spend much time in prayer. That is not the case. We are all called to be holy by living our lives with love and bearing witness in everything we do, wherever we find ourselves.”
The response to this invitation, taken from the Holy Father’s recent call to holiness in today’s world, Gaudete et Exultate, does not lie beyond us. The spirit of our living Lord, dwelling within us, makes holiness the birthright of every person. Pope Francis describes such everyday holiness as the most attractive face of the Church.
St John anchored such holiness in love. We are born with an instinct for love, and its fulfilment is the ground of our flourishing. Love alone is the touchstone of a life lived with the risen Lord: “My dear people, let us love one another, since love comes from God and everyone who loves is begotten by God and knows God.”
If holiness is the most attractive face of the Church, love must become its beating heart. “Anyone who fails to love can never have known God, because God is love.”
Sadly love is frequently trivialised, falling far short of the Lord’s command that we should love one another as he has loved us. Jesus identified love as the life he shares with the Father, the life for which we long.
“As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Remain in my love.” Jesus told us this so that his own joy might be in us, and that our own joy might be complete.
Sadly, we hear these words as those who are only too conscious of our own failings in love. While there are regrets for the past, we should take comfort in the assurance that salvation is not based in our deficient love, but in the Lord’s transforming love: “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.”
Life can have no greater fulfilment than to be called into the enduring friendship of another. It is pure gift, lightening our hearts and bringing joy to our days. To us Jesus says: “A man can have no greater love than to lay down his life for his friends. You are my friends.”
To live the Resurrection is to open our hearts to this creative love. “You did not choose me, no, I chose you; and I commissioned you to go out and eat fruit, fruit that will last.”
Such fruit can only be love, the very heart of that holiness which is the most attractive face of the Church.
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