Sunday 13 May 2012

John 15:9-17 Homily - Fr. Raymond




Sunday, 13 May 2012

Sixth Sunday of Easter - Year B

Holy Gospel of Jesus Christ according to Saint John 15:9-17.
As the Father loves me, so I also love you. Remain in my love. 
----- Forwarded Message -----
From:
 Raymond - - -
Sent:
 Sunday, 13 May 2012, 9:53
Subject:
 As the Father has loved me

AS  THE FATHER HAS LOVED ME........

“As the Father has loved me, so do I love you.”  Jesus compares his Father’s love for himself with his own love for us.  Who can fathom the depths of meaning in these words: “As the Father has loved me, so do I love you.”  Our growth in our belief in these words and our understanding of them is almost a definition of our growth in our Catholic Faith.  “As the Father has loved me, so do I love you.”   These words don’t just give us a wonderful insight into the love that the Son has for us, they also provide us with a wonderful inspiration to respond to that love.

The Gospels give us many beautiful examples of the love Jesus has for us.  His very coming among us as man and his laying down his life for us proclaims it most of all of course.  But every one of his miraculous healings speaks about it; and when he calls the rich young man to leave everything and follow him we read that he “looks on him and loves him”.  We are told that He loved Martha and Mary and Lazarus, and when Lazarus was sick his Sisters sent word to Jesus that “He whom you love is sick”.  And when Lazarus died and Jesus wept for him the crowds were so struck by the sincerity of it that they said “see how he loved him!.”  John too is described for us as the disciple whom Jesus loved.  Jesus’ love for others was obviously then something that was more than just deep in his heart; it was a thing that shone for all to see.  It was like that “City set on a hill” that he spoke about when he told us that our charity too should be evident to everyone.  The pagans used to say about the early Christians “See how they loveone another”.

St Paul in his letters too, waxes eloquent about Jesus love for us.  He tells us that neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus for us.  And in the great Book of the Apocalypse the Risen and glorified Christ, “Lord of Lords and King of kings” is described as “He who loves us”.
 But all these descriptions of Jesus’ love for us pale into insignificance when we come back again to consider these words of Jesus himself comparing his love for us with his Father’s love for himself.  “As the Father has loved me, so do I love you.”  My love for you is just like my Father’s love for me.

This saying of Jesus takes us way above all the human images; all the human descriptions; all the other natural examples that even the gospels give us  of Jesus’ love for us. “As the Father has loved me, so do I love you.”  This takes us into the very depth of the life of the Blessed Trinity itself.  This guarantees for us that when Paul says: “we will be made participators in the divine nature” itself, he is not just using a figure of speech but is telling us of a real elevation of our human nature to a quality of life that is beyond words.

Truly “Eye has not seen, nor ear heard, nor has it entered into the heart of man to consider what God has prepared for those who love him”.  And truly indeed, “The sufferings of this life are not worthy to be compared to the glory that is to come”.