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Acts 1:15-17, 20a, 20c-26 / 1 Jn 4:11-16 / Jn 17:11b-19 This weekend’s Gospel is an extension from last weekend’s exhortation from Jesus to remain in my love. He said in last weekend’s Gospel: As the Father loves me, so I also have loved you. This weekend Jesus turns to the Father asking that all this be accomplished. All what be accomplished? Jesus is in the Father and the Father is in Him. The Love between them is the Holy Spirit, and from Them and the Eternal Love comes all creation. This weekend, Jesus prays that they may be one just as we are one. What is that one-ness of God, and how do we participate in it? It is all about love. Jesus told us the greatest commandment is to love God with all we are, and to love our neighbor as ourselves. He is calling us into a relationship that is an icon of the Trinity! When we, out of love for God, love our neighbor we become one with our neighbor. Our love for God mirrors the love between the Father and the Son. From that love “spirates” (breathes) the love of our neighbor (you do get from “spirate” to Spirit, right?). Thus, as the Father and the Son Love and from them proceeds the Holy Spirit (as our creed states), so to we — in response to Jesus’ prayer that we be one — unite ourselves in Love with God and from us (God and us) proceeds the love of our neighbor. As God’s Love created the universe (His Kingdom), so our love with God is called to create His Kingdom on earth. We can join in God’s creative Love in more ways than just husbands and wives with their children. Every time we love our neighbor — wherever he or she is found — we help create the one-ness Jesus prayed for in today’s Gospel. Let’s go create His Kingdom — in His Love. |
Our love for God mirrors the love between the Father and the Son. From that love “spirates” (breathes) the love of our neighbor (you do get from “spirate” to Spirit, right?).Let us recall that the love of our neighbor is expressed by Christ in ecclesial terms in Luke 10:29-37. The Samaritan, a figure of Christ, leaves the wounded man, his spiritual neighbor, to the care of the innkeeper, to whom the oil, the wine, and the two coins are given to sustain the wounded till Christ returns from His journey to Jerusalem. The parallel between the innkeeper and the Church Militant is impossible to miss.Thus, as the Father and the Son Love and from them proceeds the Holy Spirit (as our creed states), so to we — in response to Jesus’ prayer that we be one — unite ourselves in Love with God and from us (God and us) proceeds the love of our neighbor.