Coffee With God

Reflection: John 15: 9-17

The Gospel today takes us to the Last Supper, where we hear Jesus’ new commandment: “This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you” (v. 12). After having compared Himself to the vine and us to the branches, Jesus, guarantees the fruit borne by those who remain united to Him: that fruit is love. He invites us to abide in his love so that his joy may be in us and our joy may be full (vv. 9-11). To abide in Jesus’ love. But, we have the most important question: how do we abide in the love of Jesus? “If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love,” (v. 10) Jesus says. Our doubts are not totally clarified yet:– what are his commandments? Are they the same as the 10 commandments? Jesus summarises his commandments into a single one: “that you love one another as I have loved you” (v. 12). Loving our brothers and sisters as Jesus loves us means to humble ourselves, to serve them, as Jesus did in washing the feet of the disciples. It also means going outside of ourselves, detaching ourselves from our prejudices, from our comforts, to open ourselves up to others, to their pains and their needs. It means making ourselves available, as we are and with what we have. This means to love not in word, but in deeds. Pope Francis teaches us that, “To love like Christ means to say ‘no’ to other ‘loves’ that the world offers us: love of money, love of success, vanity, [love] of power…. These deceptive paths of “love” take us away from the Lord’s love and lead us to become more and more selfish, narcissistic and overbearing. Our attitude of domination leads to a degeneration of love, to the abuse others, to making our loved ones suffer. The Pope says that “Unhealthy love turns into violence. This is not love. To love as the Lord loves us means to appreciate the people beside us, to respect their freedom, to love them as they are, gratuitously, and not as we want them to be. Ultimately, Jesus asks us to abide in his love, and not in our self-worship. Those who dwell in self-worship, live in the mirror, always looking at themselves. Abiding in the Lord’s love leads us to the promise of joy that God alone can give us. And the Lord grants us the joy of God. The joy of knowing we are loved by God despite our infidelities, enables us to face the trials of life confidently. True Christians are not sad; they always have that joy inside, even in difficult moments.