Friday of the Fifth Week of Easter
Today’s Gospel is one of those readings that seems so simple and yet so challenging; so basic and yet so profound. “This is my commandment: love one another as I love you.” (Jn 15:12) The words are clear and direct, comforting and worth repeating again and again. Within the five verses, the word “love” is repeated four times and the command, “love one another” is emphasized twice. Love one another. I imagine Jesus’ words going on… love one another today, right here, right now, in this moment and with these people.
Our three young kids have not really left home in 57 days. Every emotion, every laugh, every argument, every dramatic breakdown has happened in our house, our yard, our driveway, or the trail in the park behind our house. While I absolutely love the quality family time, it can also be challenging. I’ve been reflecting a lot on how easy it is to get angry or impatient with them when we are spending so much time together. I think about this command to love as Christ loves and realize that Christ’s love is absolutely unconditional. No matter how many times I am lazy, selfish, or greedy, no matter how many times I lose my patience, no matter how many times I am silent in the face of injustice, Christ’s love is unconditional. My love for the kids is also unconditional. In daily life that means even when I’ve told them for the fifth time to turn off the tv or stop jumping on the bed, when they fall and get hurt or hurt someone else because they are not using their “listening ears,” when we’ve been sitting at the table for over an hour and they still have food to eat, when they always need to tell me “one more thing” before going to bed… when all of those things happen every day in quarantine for 57 days and into the foreseeable future, my love is unconditional. To love as Christ loves right here and right now, in this moment, and with these people. “You are my friends if you do what I command you...love one another” (Jn 15:14,17b)
God, grant us the strength to radically and authentically express this love. May we continue to strive to think like Jesus, talk like Jesus, act like Jesus...and love like Jesus.
Abundant Blessings,
LeeAnn Meyer