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May 6, 2018
Sixth Sunday of Easter
Reading 1 Acts 10:25-26, 34-35, 44-48
When Peter entered, Cornelius met him
and, falling at his feet, paid him homage.
Peter, however, raised him up, saying,
"Get up. I myself am also a human being."
Then Peter proceeded to speak and said,
"In truth, I see that God shows no partiality.
Rather, in every nation whoever fears him and acts uprightly
is acceptable to him."
While Peter was still speaking these things,
the Holy Spirit fell upon all who were listening to the word.
The circumcised believers who had accompanied Peter
were astounded that the gift of the Holy Spirit
should have been poured out on the Gentiles also,
for they could hear them speaking in tongues and glorifying God.
Then Peter responded,
"Can anyone withhold the water for baptizing these people,
who have received the Holy Spirit even as we have?"
He ordered them to be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ.
Responsorial Psalm Ps 98:1, 2-3, 3-4
Sing to the LORD a new song,
for he has done wondrous deeds;
His right hand has won victory for him,
his holy arm.
R. The Lord has revealed to the nations his saving power.
The LORD has made his salvation known:
in the sight of the nations he has revealed his justice.
He has remembered his kindness and his faithfulness
toward the house of Israel.
R. The Lord has revealed to the nations his saving power.
All the ends of the earth have seen
the salvation by our God.
Sing joyfully to the LORD, all you lands;
break into song; sing praise.
R. The Lord has revealed to the nations his saving power.
Reading 2 1 Jn 4:7-10
Beloved, let us love one another,
because love is of God;
everyone who loves is begotten by God and knows God.
Whoever is without love does not know God, for God is love.
In this way the love of God was revealed to us:
God sent his only Son into the world
so that we might have life through him.
In this is love:
not that we have loved God, but that he loved us
and sent his Son as expiation for our sins.
Gospel Jn 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 may 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."
Discussing the agenda for the 2020 Plenary Council, we're wondering where to start. Perhaps every reflection on the Sunday Readings or anything else should start with the question: What's it all for? What is God's intention and purpose?
In the first reading a long story is trimmed down to bare essentials:
Peter: "In truth, I see that God shows no partiality. Rather, in every nation whoever fears him and acts uprightly is acceptable to him." ... The Holy Spirit fell upon all those hearing the word. ... The circumcised believers with Peter were astounded that Spirit should be poured out on the Gentiles also.
It might be worthwhile to read the whole Chapter 10, perhaps in the less stilted version of J B Phillips: https://www.ccel.org/bible/phillips/CP05Acts08.htm
The psalm is an exciting, joyful chant that celebrates something we too often lose sight of, that it's God's intention to fix up the mess we've got ourselves into: The Lord has revealed to the nations his saving power.
The selection from John's letter gives us the formula that turns out to be not a throw-away line but the literal truth: God is love. The writer is not speaking as a philosopher discussing how we might define 'god' or how we might explain evil in the world, but unfolding again what he has learned of God's way of working in people: it is not enslaving tyranny but giving freedom with love - it is set down as the standard example of how we should treat one another: giving freedom with love.
The gospel passage has a couple of rough spots that still can trip me up so that I'm in danger of missing the point. The first is the word 'commandment'. It's a word loaded with history and deeply embedded in our psyche with connotations of overbearing obligation, dire consequences, and fear. There are equivalents that are equally forceful but without the negative feelings. 'Read the Instructions' is an instruction we should welcome if we want to get the most benefit from our new piece of equipment. Also the 'prescriptions' we get from the doctor are, from experience, mostly very much for our good.
So we could try substituting something like: This, above all, is what I want you to do...
No one has greater love than this, to lay down one's life for one's friends.
Reverting by default to the image of a crucified man every time we hear this phrase can also block its meaning in our lives. An alternative translation would be 'to give one's life without reserve' - something well within the experience of people everywhere. The accent is on giving your life - your very self, the way we give ourselves every day in fact.
It seems that the writer was trying to take his readers past these roadblocks of commandment and sacrifice and slavery. We will read him correctly if we root out those insidious remnants of our savage past and commit ourselves to the joy of thinking positively of 'god' and being immensely grateful for 'life'.
Reginald Fuller on the St Louis Liturgy site says '... Jesus has constituted the disciples as a society of “friends.” One might almost say that this is the Johannine doctrine of the Church as opposed to the institutional, organizational understanding of the Church that was gaining the upper hand at that time.' Unfortunately the institution has kept the upper hand, enslaving people by instilling fear and subservience into their hearts.
Looking back to the first reading, commentators remark on the exceptional feature in the story, that the Spirit was given before the people were baptised. Normally the Spirit is given as a confirmation of the baptism. 'Luke’s point is that the Spirit here takes a fresh initiative where the Church was too timid to follow.' (Fuller)
Clearly the rot set in early, or rather the obstacles and roadblocks in the hearts even of the best of us are as much a problem and a cause of 'sin' as are the evil ways of the ungodly. So it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be... Yet, as Luke laid it down in the annunciation story: Nothing is impossible to God!