Tag Archives: god

The Greatest Commandment

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Acts 15:22-31
Jn 15:12-17

When I was a young girl, my Mom used to take my siblings and me to visit an older lady named Alice.  My Mom knew Alice from church; both of them attended the same mass, and one day, after mass, Alice approached my Mom and asked for her help.  Alice explained that she had no family and she asked my mom to help her run her errands.  We would accompany my Mom as she drove Alice to the bank, the grocery store, McDonalds, or wherever her errands took her and always ended the day in her small apartment sitting in her antique arm chairs surrounded by the piles magazines, mail, and coupons that she meticulously saved.  We always ate together and it was always grilled cheese and tomato soup because as she said, “It was a meal that would stick to your bones.”  She called me her “little ballerina” and would stand from her second floor window and wave to us as we drove away each week.

As Alice grew older, and after she took a couple of falls, my Mom got more involved in her care.  Finally, after one particularly bad fall, my Mom helped her move out of her apartment and into a nursing home.  My Mom, now her power of attorney, ensured that Alice received the best care possible, and continued to frequently visit her despite the busyness in her own life from raising the seven of us kids including my handicapped brother.  When Alice passed away, I remember going to the funeral and being the only ones there that day.  Surprised, I learned that though Alice still had family; they were not on good terms.

In today’s gospel Jesus commands: “Love one another as I have loved you.  No one has greater love than this, to lay one’s life down for one’s friend.”  The commandment begs the questions: What does it mean to love as Jesus loved us?  What does it mean to lay one’s life down for a friend?

When we look at Jesus’ life and witness the profound, radical love and service he gave to those he encountered, especially the poor and vulnerable, we may find our souls overwhelmed and humbled by the power of His love.  We may feel unworthy or unable to love, to lay down our lives in the same profound way that Jesus did or maybe we feel scared of crossing the safe walls we put up or the boundaries we create if we dare reach out to the marginalized.

As I read today’s gospel, I thought of the weight of this commandment to love as Jesus loves and I began to think of all the people in my life that dare to love selflessly and fearlessly as Jesus did.  I was no longer a little ballerina when Alice died, and I often wonder, what would have happened to Alice had my Mom not agreed to help her.  I have this image in my mind of little old Alice in her long gray coat and matching beret, approaching my Mom and asking for help.  The thought of the courage and love that my Mom had to say yes to Alice, practically a stranger to us at the time, inspires me as I think of the infinite opportunities that surround us each day to say yes to Jesus who disguises Himself in the vulnerable in our midst.  So even if only for today, let us have the courage to listen to God’s call, to say yes to love, and to experience the profound transformation that comes when we lay down our lives for a friend.

Jean Baumgardner
St. Vincent de Paul Society – Milwaukee, Meal Programs Manager
2009-2010 Passionist Volunteer International in Honduras

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God’s Love bears Fruit in Joy

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Acts 15:7-21
John 15:9-11

Some of the most profound sayings of Jesus are memorable not because they are exquisitely complicated, but precisely because they are disarmingly simple. Today’s brief Gospel excerpt from John has that admirable quality. Only seven italicized words below from the total of fifty-seven words in that selection have more than one syllable! Yet, by entering reflectively into the spell of these simple interwoven words, we are pulled into a loving embrace by God where we can experience peace and joy.

“As the Father loves me, so I also love you. Remain in my love.” Everything in these two sentences describes an incredible gift. Jesus loves us with the love he received from the heavenly Father. What have we done to deserve this? Be still! Jesus is not talking about deserving but receiving. “I love you…remain in my love.” Doesn’t sound like much struggle here. Accept the love coming at you. How could that be hard?

Ah, but we sinners always expect a hook, a trick. Here it comes, that big word with three syllables in that next phrase. “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.” So let us get this straight. God loves us in Jesus. Then Jesus invites us to remain in this relationship. God romances us, but then reminds us that if our love is to be truly genuine, it will seek to reflect the values which the commandments of the Old and New Testaments have offered to believers for millennia. The order is important, first divine love is given, and then our faithful response is expected because it shows we mean what we say about living in love with God.

‘Challenging’ might be the word that comes to mind as we reflect on a lifetime of attempts to follow the commandments with our multiple failures and occasional successes. But it is very instructive that the final multi-syllable word from Jesus today is not challenge. Rather, it concerns Jesus’ desire that our lives be joyful. “I have told you this so that my joy might be in you and your joy might be complete.” Amazing what a few little words from Jesus can do for us when we might be weary in spirit!

(Father Paul Zilonka, C.P. is a Member of the Passionist Preaching Team of St. Paul of the Cross Province).

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I hope . . .

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Acts 15:1-6
Jn 15:1-8

I hope that I shall always pine
for intimacy with the vine;
A branch whose pruning knife
absorbs for me the Father’s Life.

Over and over the Gospel writer urges, as if over and over the Master had urged, “Remain in me… as I remain in you… if you remain in me…if you don’t remain in me…”

If you choose to remain in me, if you hold fast to the Vine, this is the kind of branch you’ll be – you’ll experience intimacy with me; you’ll bear much fruit; you’ll give glory to God; you’ll be my disciple; you’ll ask for whatever you want and it will be given to you.” This way of life is so inviting, who of us would pass it up? And no one of us wants even to imagine the alternative – taken away and thrown into the fire. And why is this the result of ignoring our relationship with the vine, of not working to “remain in me”, to live as God invites us to live? Why is this cutting off the result? “Because,” Jesus prompts, “without me, you can do nothing.”

Maybe this is where Jesus’ image of the pruning comes into play. The pruning it seems symbolizes the growth, often painful, that comes about through the events of our lives. This growth doesn’t come easy. And it usually calls for more than just going through the events of life. God’s pruning also calls for prayer and reflection on life’s events.

Over and over — today’s account from the Acts has a similar language in recounting that there were some in Judea were instructing the brothers, “Unless you are circumcised according to the Mosaic practice…” It seems that this theme about resisting the acceptance of Gentiles into the Church we also hear over and over throughout the Acts of the Apostles. Paul spoke his truth with great conviction, but seemed to need more than one or two hearings for the folks to “get it.”

But Paul and Barnabas are patients and persistent. They make their way to Jerusalem so they can meet together to see about this matter. They accept this pruning experience; they indeed hold fast to the vine, absorbing the Father’s life as they travel up to Jerusalem.

- Sister Mary Clark is a Seton Hill Sister of Charity living at Elizabeth Seton Convent, in Pittsburgh, PA.

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