Meditation Minute

My Dearest Brothers and Sisters in Christ:

 

“This is my commandment: love one another as I love you.”

 

Gospel Reading: John 15:9-17

 

Jesus said to his disciples: "As the Father loves me, so I also love you. Remain in my love. If you keep my commandments, you will remain in my love, just as I have kept my Father's commandments and remain in his love.  "I have told you this so that my joy might be in you and your joy might be complete. 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."

 

In today’s Gospel reading, Jesus explains that his love for his people is a reflection of the love expressed in the Holy Trinity. He tells us that only in the true Christian love expressed by us can we find the true source of joy. To experience the fullness of Christian love and joy, we must be willing to make sacrifices for others. Jesus tells us, “No one has greater love than this, to lay down one's life for one's friends.” Our love for God is expressed in our love for others. If we are not willing to open our hearts to the needs of others then how can we know the love of God. God’s love for us is unbounded. We can never love God as much as He loves us, but we must try. We can only begin to experience the fullness of his love when we make sacrifices for others; when we have to chose someone else’s needs over our own desires. The greatest sacrifice of all is to give one’s own life for another. God showed us this love when He allowed his only son to die for us on the cross. The way of the cross became the ultimate example of true Christian love. We must incorporate the way of the cross into our own lives. We must not only be willing to burden the weight of the cross, we must also be willing to accept the ridicule that goes along with the cross. To accept the cross is to accept the will of God. “If you keep my commandments, you will remain in my love, just as I have kept my Father's commandments and remain in his love.” It is not easy to keep the commandments and sometimes we are laughed at or made fun of for choosing to follow Christ.

 

A Simple Prayer

 

Lord God, teach me to love as you have loved us.

Give me the strength to sacrifice my desires for your will.

May I experience the true joy expressed in love given for others.

 

Yours in Christ

Michael Marcon