Fr. Joseph ADENIYI

Dearly beloved in Christ, we are now in the fifth Sunday after Easter, five Sundays after the resurrection of the Lord, the day when we all shouted Alleluia to the risen Lord, may God’s name be praised both now and forevermore, amen

Today, towards the end of our Gospel reading, we see Jesus talking about love. Love itself is an essential part of human existence, it is by love that two people can live together and learn to overlook each other’s excesses. We all are from different backgrounds, with different upbringings and characters, but with love, we can learn to live well with each other and grow together. Without love, there would be chaos in the world, which would on the long run destroy the world.

There are said to be various types of love in the world, but today, our Lord Jesus Christ teaches us about a very essential love called the; agape love, which is called the unconditional love; a love so pure that it becomes a ‘self-giving one’.

In the Gospel reading of today, the Lord Jesus Christ gives us a ‘new’ commandment, not entirely different from the 10 commandments God gave Moses on Mount Sinai in the book of Exodus, but more like a summary of all the commandments. The Lord gives us a commandment today, ‘to love one another just as he loves us’. A very powerful commandment or statement if you would ask me.

To understand this ‘new’ commandment that the Lord gives us today, let us cast our minds back to an earlier chapter of the Gospel of John, that says, ‘…for God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life…’ (cf. Jn. 3:16). The periscope of the Gospel above shows us how great the love of God is to humanity, how God generously gave his life for you and I, so that we can have life in us.

Now, the Lord gives a command to love one another just as He loves us. The command is simple and clear, we MUST LOVE ONE ANOTHER AS HE LOVES US. This means that, our love for each other must be genuine, unconditional, self giving, pure etc. It must be a love that is ready to do everything good for the next person, a love that is ready to help the next person in their journey through life, a love that gives without counting the cost.

Again, the Gospel reading continues by saying that, it is through the love we have for each other, that people would come to know that we are the disciples of the Lord. This goes on to solidify the claim that, our love as Christians, more so as Catholics, must be a love in action. In fact, if our love is not put into practice, it is no love at all, for love must be shown to the next person before he or she can know that indeed, he or she is truly loved.

The Lord Jesus Christ encourages you and I today, to become like Him. Just as the Christ loves us and was ready to lay down his life for us, and, he did laid down his life, you and I must have that kind of love for our brethren, we must be ready to forgive their excesses, we must be ready to help them grow, we must be ready to teach them the ways of God, so that they also can come to experience the incomprehensible love of God.

May we love others as Christ did, amen.

Happy Sunday to you all!!!