Friday May 7

FIFTH WEEK OF EASTER

 

YOU ARE MY FRIENDS      

    

Introduction

Fraternal love among Christians, but also love of all people for one another, without boundaries or reservations is inseparable from friendship with God. Both loves are in fact one. For Christians, human relations have a religious content and express a religious relation. For sure, we can and must love God in himself. But we experience God when our love, like his, is liberal and without calculation, oriented towards people in their otherness. Such a love converts us, that is, turns us to God and to others, overcomes selfishness, forgives and shares. It recognizes the sensitivities and respects the backgrounds of others; see today’s first reading, Jews and Christians recognizing one another as brothers and sisters in Christ. This is Christian love in action.

 

Opening Prayer

Lord our God, love is your name
and you have revealed all its depth
when you sent your only Son into the world
and let him be the sacrifice that took our sins away.
Through Jesus, who calls us his friends,
make our love as strong as life and death;
let it always have the last word in us
and be given for free, like yours.
May we always remain in your love
and love one another as Jesus has loved us,
he who is our Lord, for ever and ever.

Reading 1: ACTS 15:22-31

The Apostles and presbyters, in agreement with the whole Church,
decided to choose representatives
and to send them to Antioch with Paul and Barnabas.
The ones chosen were Judas, who was called Barsabbas,
and Silas, leaders among the brothers.
This is the letter delivered by them:
“The Apostles and the presbyters, your brothers,
to the brothers in Antioch, Syria, and Cilicia
of Gentile origin: greetings.
Since we have heard that some of our number
who went out without any mandate from us
have upset you with their teachings
and disturbed your peace of mind,
we have with one accord decided to choose representatives
and to send them to you along with our beloved Barnabas and Paul,
who have dedicated their lives to the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.
So we are sending Judas and Silas
who will also convey this same message by word of mouth:
‘It is the decision of the Holy Spirit and of us
not to place on you any burden beyond these necessities,
namely, to abstain from meat sacrificed to idols,
from blood, from meats of strangled animals,
and from unlawful marriage.
If you keep free of these,
you will be doing what is right. Farewell.'”

And so they were sent on their journey.
Upon their arrival in Antioch
they called the assembly together and delivered the letter.
When the people read it, they were delighted with the exhortation.

Responsorial Psalm: Ps 57:8-9, 10 AND 12

(10a) I will give you thanks among the peoples, O Lord.
or:
R. Alleluia.
My heart is steadfast, O God; my heart is steadfast;
I will sing and chant praise.
Awake, O my soul; awake, lyre and harp!
I will wake the dawn.
R. I will give you thanks among the peoples, O Lord.
or:
R. Alleluia.
I will give thanks to you among the peoples, O LORD,
I will chant your praise among the nations.
For your mercy towers to the heavens,
and your faithfulness to the skies.
Be exalted above the heavens, O God;
above all the earth be your glory!
R. I will give you thanks among the peoples, O Lord.
or:
R. Alleluia.

Alleluia: JN 15:15B

Alleluia, alleluia.
I call you my friends, says the Lord,
For I have made known to you all that the Father has told me.
R. Alleluia, alleluia.

Gospel: JN 15:12-17

Jesus said to his disciples:
“This is my commandment: love one another as I love 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 no longer call you slaves,
because a slave does not know what his master is doing.
I have called you friends,
because I have told you everything I have heard from my Father.
It was not you who chose me, but I who chose you
and appointed you to go and bear fruit that will remain,
so that whatever you ask the Father in my name he may give you.
This I command you: love one another.”

 

Intercessions

–   That the Church may be deeply aware, that what matters to God is not our language or culture or face, but that his friends are those who learn to love, we pray:

–   That we may know that we, God’s servants, are more than servants, for we belong to his household and are his friends, we pray:

–   That we may know that we could not choose and love God, but that he has chosen and loved us, we pray:

 

Prayer over the Gifts

Lord, our God, loving Father,
your love appeared with a human face
in your Son, Jesus Christ.
He showed all the depth of your love and his
by laying down his life for us, his friends.
As he gives himself to us as the bread of life,
may he be our food
on the road of life and of love,
not only when it is easy to love
but also when it is hard to be faithful
and when love demands self-forgetting sacrifice.
We ask this through Christ, our Lord.

 

Prayer after Communion

Our loving God,
in this Eucharistic celebration
you have given us new proof of your love
by giving us your Son and his Spirit.
Jesus has strengthened our love.
Accept our thanks
and bring out the best in us,
that we may bear rich fruit
of faithful, reliable love.
Let your Holy Spirit unite us
to build community with one another
and to live in your love and joy,
now and for ever.

 

Blessing

Just imagine! Today, Jesus has called us his friends and asked us to remain in his love. Let us do all we can to put this into practice, with the blessing of Almighty God, the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit.

 

Commentary

Jesus calls us to love one another “as he has loved us.” How does he love us? He calls them for the meal. Sharing a meal is a sign of love, sharing and family. That’s why in the past, our elders insisted that a family must share the table and have the meals together. One reason for the rising numbers of broken families and lack of love in the families in today’s world is – there is no timeshare the table; no time to have a meal with parents and children together in the family. We are too concerned about our jobs, our social life and studies … we have time for everything except for the family meal and family prayer.

Our passage is set in the context of Jesus’ meal together with his disciples. They are his family. And there he would first wash the feet of the members of his family. And then would tell them to love. No matter how bad the other person wronged you; our call – our vocation is to bend down before our brother and sister and wash his her feet – be a loser for the sake of love. That’s why Jesus stoops before Judas Iscariot who would betray him, to wash his feet.

The story does not end there: He tells them to feed on his body and blood – that is, his life. My life is at your disposal, for strengthening and nurturing your life. This is exactly what happens in a family that is united by this sacrificial love, where the wife and the husband surrender their lives, their freedom, their personal likes and choices to each other. They do that because they are in love. They are willing even to die for each other. And they share this same love for their children; they are willing to sacrifice their lives for their children … all because they are in love.

At the end of the meal, Jesus moves out to be captured, to be tortured and killed. This is the “novelty ” – ” a new commandment I give you”. Today, giving our life means, spending our lives in love so that those who live with us may be happy. This new commandment calls on us to accept the other as he or she is and not as he/she should be or I would like him to be. True … so easily said, but had we Catholics have given a serious thought about this, there would not have had disputes and divisions in our families and communities.

Just imagine! Today, Jesus has called us his friends and asked us to remain in his love. Let us do all we can to put this into practice, with the blessing of Almighty God, the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit.