The Word God Spells

John 15: 12-17
Acts 15:22-31 / Ps 57:8-9,10,12

This is my commandment: love one another as I love you.
(John 15:12)

The fruit of His love we must bear
That the gifts from God we’ll receive;
The Good News of Christ we must share,
So that others too may believe.

“This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved 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 do not call you servants any longer, because the servant does not know what the master is doing; but I have called you friends, because I have made known to you everything that I have heard from my Father. You did not choose me but I chose you. And I appointed you to go and bear fruit, fruit that will last, so that the Father will give you whatever you ask him in my name. I am giving you these commands so that you may love one another.” (Jn.15:12-17)

Reflection

Everyone knows that love is something that is freely given, never forced, and comes from the heart. We cannot love anyone against our will. But this is human love, not the kind that Jesus here is commanding us to undertake. It is a love that He, the Son of God gave (“…as I have loved you”) at the cost of His own life, a love that can only be divine. But to obey does not mean we have to go all the way as He did in order to be His friends. We need only to give a part of our life to imitate His love. To “die a little” can be in helping a poor man in need. It can be in fasting and prayer for a sick friend to recover. It can be in civic service, like donating to or joining a medical mission of mercy. Or it can be in joining a cause in defense of our faith and Church, and for the love of Jesus, like boycotting the movie, “The Da Vinci code”. After all, it is our love and concern for other Christians that we join this worthy cause.

Jesus also showed His love by sharing the Good News (“everything that I have heard from the Father.”) We are therefore commanded to love in the same way by sharing our faith with others, which is our common vocation as Christians. Loving others means standing up and declaring our faith in Jesus, our Risen Lord!

Finally, the mandate of love requires us to “go and bear fruit, fruit that will last.” The fruit of our efforts is simply to become Christlike, to imitate the character of Jesus, His compassion and forgiving quality, His humility, steadfastness, and His total trust in the Father. This is what Jesus asks us to bear, and we can do it by means of prayer. Let us pray constantly to God that He may give us the fruit of Christlikeness.

Father, Source of all love, let all our thoughts, words and actions be guided by Your love; for without it, life has no meaning, for nothing else on earth matters. Amen.