HOMILY FOR THURSDAY OF 5TH WEEK OF EASTER.
THEME: Jesus said to his disciples:
‘As the Father has loved me, so I have loved you.
BY: FR. DEOTATIOUS CHIKONTWE SMA .
*READINGS OF THE DAY*
Acts 15:7-21
Psalm 95:1-3,10
John 15:9-11
*LITURGICAL COLOUR*
WHITE
*FROM OUR FIRST READING*
In our first reading today, all of us heard about the continuation of the events of the First Council of Jerusalem in which the issue regarding whether the Christian faithful had to follow and obey the extensive and in fact excessive ordinances and the rules of the Jewish laws and customs was resolved by the meeting of the Church leaders and elders.
RELATED: HOMILY FOR THURSDAY OF 5TH WEEK OF EASTER.
*FROM OUR GOSPEL READING*
the short gospel reading this morning there is a strong emphasis on love, God the Father’s love for Jesus, Jesus’ love for all of us, and his call on us to remain in his love. The call to remain in Jesus’ love suggests that we already find ourselves within his love and our task is to remain there. In other words, the Lord’s love for us is a given; we don’t have to look for it or work for it. We are born into the Lord’s love; we are baptized into his love. We only have to remain there. The call to remain in the Lord’s love suggests that we can remove ourselves from his love. The Lord does not remove his love from us, but we can fall out of his love, as it were.
*CONCLUSION*
In the gospel reading Jesus indicates that the way to stay, to remain, in his love is by keeping his commandments. Elsewhere in John’s gospel Jesus reduces his commandments to one commandment, the commandment to love one another as he has loved us. It is by striving to love one another in the same selfless and generous way that the Lord loves us that we remain in his love. We remain in the love of Jesus by sharing the love we have received from him with others. This is our calling. According to the gospel reading, it is the path that leads to true happiness, a sharing in Jesus’ own joy. ‘I have told you this so that my joy may be in you.
May the Love of God be with Us always.
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