Sunday May 15, 2022

FIFTH SUNDAY OF EASTER

Love Is Inventive

See How They Love One Another

 

Greeting (See Second Reading)

God lives among his people,
he makes his home among us
in his Son Jesus Christ.
In Jesus, may he be our God-with-us.
The Lord be with you. R/ And also with you.

 

Introduction by the Celebrant

Love Is Inventive

We are often surprised because of the things people who love us do for us or give us: it amazes us how inventive love can be. Look at God, the origin of all love: he lets his own Son become one of us; Jesus astonishes us by his love for sinners, for misfits in life, for those who suffer. He gives up his life for us. And it is that inventive love which he makes the heart of our faith and our life. If we only had a bit of love like that we could make ourselves and our world all new. It is this inventive, renewing love which Jesus comes to share with us in this Eucharist.

 

See How They Love One Another

If you would be asked to define what is most typical of our Christian community, could it be said of us, as of the first Christians, “See how they love one another”? According to our Lord himself, the mark of his disciples should be that we love one another as he has loved us. Gathered here for the Lord’s meal of love, let us ask him to make us love one another the way he has loved us.

 

Penitential Act

God has loved us much more than we can imagine.
But how much have we answered his love?
How much have we answered the love of people?
Let us examine ourselves before the Lord.
                        (pause)
Lord Jesus, with your love you came
to renew this old and sick world:
Lord, have mercy. R/ Lord, have mercy.
Jesus Christ, to your Church and to the world
you left as your testament and heart
your commandment of love.
Christ, have mercy. R/ Christ, have mercy.

Lord Jesus, you made your own love
the model and measure of our love for one another:
Lord, have mercy. R/ Lord, have mercy.

Have mercy on us, Lord,
and forgive us all our sins.
Renew us by your love
and lead us to everlasting life. R/ Amen.

 

Opening Prayer

Let us pray
that our love may draw its strength
from God’s own love
                        (pause)
God, loving Father,
you made us aware of the depth of your love
when your own Son laid down his life for us.
Jesus asks us to love one another
the way he has loved us—all the way.
And yet, our love remains brittle and fickle;
it will always fall short.
Give us a bit of your own love,
make it reliable and lasting like yours,
ever respectful of people,
always inventive and new,
and reaching out especially
to the poor and the unloved.
We ask this in the name of Jesus the Lord. R/ Amen.

 

First Reading (Acts 14:21b-27): God Had Done Great Things with Them

Paul and Barnabas had suffered and toiled much to found new Christian communities and to encourage the faithful. Yet they acknowledged that it was God who did all this good work with them.

Reading 1: Acts 14:21-27

After Paul and Barnabas had proclaimed the good news
to that city
and made a considerable number of disciples,
they returned to Lystra and to Iconium and to Antioch.
They strengthened the spirits of the disciples
and exhorted them to persevere in the faith, saying,
“It is necessary for us to undergo many hardships
to enter the kingdom of God.”
They appointed elders for them in each church and,
with prayer and fasting, commended them to the Lord
in whom they had put their faith.
Then they traveled through Pisidia and reached Pamphylia.
After proclaiming the word at Perga they went down to Attalia.
From there they sailed to Antioch,
where they had been commended to the grace of God
for the work they had now accomplished.
And when they arrived, they called the church together
and reported what God had done with them
and how he had opened the door of faith to the Gentiles.

 

Responsorial Psalm Ps 145:8-9, 10-11, 12-13

(cf. 1) I will praise your name for ever, my king and my God.
or:
R. Alleluia.
The LORD is gracious and merciful,
slow to anger and of great kindness.
The LORD is good to all
and compassionate toward all his works.
R. I will praise your name for ever, my king and my God.
or:
R. Alleluia.
Let all your works give you thanks, O LORD,
and let your faithful ones bless you.
Let them discourse of the glory of your kingdom
and speak of your might.
R. I will praise your name for ever, my king and my God.
or:
R. Alleluia.
Let them make known your might to the children of Adam,
and the glorious splendor of your kingdom.
Your kingdom is a kingdom for all ages,
and your dominion endures through all generations.
R. I will praise your name for ever, my king and my God.
or:
R. Alleluia.

 

Second Reading (Rev 21:1-5): See, I Make All Things New

Since the resurrection of Jesus, a new world has begun to take shape among people, that of the presence of God among us through the risen Christ. John gives us a hopeful vision of this new world in the making.

Reading 2: Rev 21:1-5a

Then I, John, saw a new heaven and a new earth.
The former heaven and the former earth had passed away,
and the sea was no more.
I also saw the holy city, a new Jerusalem,
coming down out of heaven from God,
prepared as a bride adorned for her husband.
I heard a loud voice from the throne saying,
“Behold, God’s dwelling is with the human race.
He will dwell with them and they will be his people
and God himself will always be with them as their God.
He will wipe every tear from their eyes,
and there shall be no more death or mourning, wailing or pain,
for the old order has passed away.”

The One who sat on the throne said,
“Behold, I make all things new.”

 

Alleluia Jn 13:34

Alleluia, alleluia.
I give you a new commandment, says the Lord:
love one another as I have loved you.
R. Alleluia, alleluia.

 

Gospel (Jn 13:31-35): A New Commandment for a New People

At the Last Supper Jesus leaves to his disciples the commandment of love as his last testament. This love is the key to a new world.

Gospel: Jn 13:31-33a, 34-35

When Judas had left them, Jesus said,
“Now is the Son of Man glorified, and God is glorified in him.
If God is glorified in him,
God will also glorify him in himself,
and God will glorify him at once.
My children, I will be with you only a little while longer.
I give you a new commandment: love one another.
As I have loved you, so you also should love one another.
This is how all will know that you are my disciples,
if you have love for one another.”

 

Intercessions

Jesus reminds us today that love is the fundamental law of Christianity. Let us pray to God our Father so that among us love may not remain an empty word, and let us say: R/ Lord, unite us in your love.

–          For the Church, the People of God, that with the strength of our commitment we may be a voice and a force promoting justice and love among people and among nations, let us pray: R/ Lord, unite us in your love.

–          For the Churches groping for unity, that one day they may eat together the one bread of the one Lord, let us pray: R/ Lord, unite us in your love.

–          For scientists and economists, that by their inventions and endeavors they may promote the quality of life and human freedom and dignity for all, let us pray: R/ Lord, unite us in your love.

–          For all people of good will, that they may build up together a just society based on fairness and love, where there is no room for any discrimination, let us pray: R/ Lord, unite is in your love.

–          For all of us here, that we may form a community of service, love and hope, open to all needs and all just aspirations, let us pray: R/ Lord, unite us in your love.

God of hope, in you we trust. Renew us, our lives and our world through him who is your presence among us, Jesus Christ our Lord. R/ Amen.

 

Prayer over the Gifts

Faithful God of hope,
the bread that we eat is meant to be
the bread of peace,
but to many it is still the stale bread
of tears and injustice.
The cup that we drink is meant to be
the cup of unity and joy,
but often it is still a bitter cup
of sadness and inequality.
Let the bread and the wine
which we bring before you
become for us your Son Jesus,
the food and drink by which we build a better world,
for he is our Lord for ever and ever. R/ Amen.

 

Introduction to the Eucharistic Prayer

Let us with joy give thanks to the Father that a new life and a new world have begun for us on the day when his Son rose from the dead.

 

Invitation to the Lord’s Prayer

With Jesus living among us,
let us pray to our Father in heaven
that the fullness of his kingdom
may become a reality among us: R/ Our Father…

 

Prayer for Peace

Lord Jesus Christ, you said to your apostles:
I leave you peace, my peace I give you.
Look not on our sins,
but on the faith of your Church
and grant us always the peace
that comes from unity and sharing
and from working together to build up
your kingdom of justice and love,
in which you live with us for ever. R/ Amen.

 

Invitation to Communion

This is Jesus our Lord,
who says to us, his disciples today:
Love one another as I have loved you.
Happy are we to be invited
to eat the bread of life and love. R/ Lord, I am not worthy…

 

Prayer after Communion

Loving Father,
the Eucharist in which we have shared
is for us the sign and token
that we can learn to love one another
as Jesus has loved us:
to the end and without measure.
Thank you for the love you have shown us.
Let our love bear witness
to all the love we have received from you,
that our efforts to spread your joy and justice
may lead people to recognize you
as the one true God
and to accept the One you have sent,
Jesus Christ our Lord. R/ Amen.

 

Blessing

In this Eucharistic celebration
we have been united as a community
of faith, hope and love.
Now we return to our respective tasks.
Let us keep united and take to heart
the Lord’s commandment of love.
Let us try to love one another
as he has loved us.
This is the key to a new world.
And take home with you
the blessing of almighty God:
the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit. R/ Amen.

 

Go in the joy and the love of the Lord.

R/ Thanks be to God.

 

Commentary

Loving Until It Hurts

Read: The missionary passion of Paul and Barnabas brings the gospel to wider regions, especially to the non-Jews. John sees God pitching his tent amidst human beings to wipe away tears from their eyes and make everything new. Jesus gives the “new commandment.”

Reflect: What is so new about the “new commandment?” In essence, it does not seem different from the “old.” Deut. 6:4 spoke of loving God with one’s entire being and Lev 19:18 spoke of loving one’s neighbor as oneself; and Jesus reaffirmed them as the “great commandment” (cf. Mt. 22:37-40). Yet, the “new commandment” is definitely new in terms of its model, scope, and semiotic value: We shall do this loving as Jesus has done – “Just as I have loved you, you must….” If, in the Leviticus the “neighbor” applied tribalistically to members of one’s own group, here Jesus leaves it open-ended, to include even our enemies (cf. Mt. 5:44; Lk 10: 25-37).  Finally, love of such scope modelled after Jesus shall be the sign by which the world would know a Christian.

Pray: Pray for the grace to love until it hurts, as recommended St. Teresa of Kolkata.

Act: Reach out and mend a broken relationship today.

Reflection is taken from Bible Diary 2022;

written by Fr.Paulson Velyannoor, CMF