(Edited) Sunday Reflections (from) Liturgical Years 2011 (A), 2012 (B), and 2013 (C)
5th Sunday of Easter (C), April 28, 2013
Liturgical readings
Acts 14:21-27
Psalm 145
Revelation 21:1-5
John 13:31-33, 34-35
"This is how all will know you for my disciples."
The 13th chapter of St. John's gospel is divided into three parts by the Jerusalem Bible: "Jesus washes his disciples' feet" (13:1-20); "The treachery of Judas foretold" (13:21-32); and "Farewell discourses" (13:33-38). This Sunday's gospel passage is located between the second and the third parts. Its highlight is the new commandment the Lord gives. And the immediate context of this new commandment in John's gospel is a specific action of self-giving: Jesus washing His disciples' feet.
Jesus gives a new commandment: love. The commandment of love is higher than the Law. And it is more than just what the world presents love to be; for us Christians, love is also a Person. And the biblical truth that speaks of God as love, has become the Way, the Truth, and the Life: the person of Christ Jesus our Lord. Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI expresses this truth of Jesus and Christian love in his first encyclical, "Deus Caritas Est":
"One can become a source from which rivers of living water
flow. Yet to become such a source, one must constantly drink
anew from the original source, which is Jesus Christ, from
whose pierced heart flows the love of God".
For many Catholics, the practice of charity is within the context of family life and professional work. To be charitable in these times of trouble and adversity is a call not easily heard. The call is sometimes drowned by noisy distractions within and without. But the Lord's call remains. We need not be a martyr like the Lord to make the practice of charity perfect. Just to bear patiently each other's burdens in work and life, and to be a healing presence to others, even in times of adversity, is already a noble direction both pleasing to God and man.
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