Gospel Reflection For The 5th day of May in the year of Our Lord, 2024
Gospel
John 15:9-17
9 As the Father hath loved me, I also have loved you. Abide in my love. 10 If you keep my commandments, you shall abide in my love; as I also have kept my Father's commandments, and do abide in his love.
11 These things I have spoken to you, that my joy may be in you, and your joy may be filled. 12 This is my commandment, that you love one another, as I have loved you. 13 Greater love than this no man hath, that a man lay down his life for his friends. 14 You are my friends, if you do the things that I command you. 15 I will not now call you servants: for the servant knoweth not what his lord doth. But I have called you friends: because all things whatsoever I have heard of my Father, I have made known to you.
16 You have not chosen me: but I have chosen you; and have appointed you, that you should go, and should bring forth fruit; and your fruit should remain: that whatsoever you shall ask of the Father in my name, he may give it you. 17 These things I command you, that you love one another.
What does it mean to love another? Of course, there are many types of love. In this regard, it is a sacrificial love. It means caring for another person more than you do for yourself. You wish for their happiness even if it means sacrificing your own. You want for them to eat and be satisfied even if you must go hungry. You want them to live even if you must give your life for that to happen. You want them to enjoy eternal salvation no matter what effort or sacrifice you must make. That is easy enough to say, but how often do we actually experience such love?
This is the love that is supposed to be natural to a family. A man and woman are supposed to have this love when they marry and not merely maintain it for life, but that love should grow. Parents should have such love for their children and children for their parents. Siblings should have such love for each other. In our time though, this rarely happens. Too few marry and fewer still stay married. That deep, spousal love is unknown to most. Most children never know their fathers. Simply stated, far too many people born into our era never learn how to truly love because they never experience true, sacrificial love.
It is hard to understand the love of our Heavenly Father if we never knew the love of an earthly father – I didn’t. It has been, and will always be, a struggle to understand the love of God the Father for me. I have a good mother who loves me… many do not have that. Her love taught me what love is. But, I have no siblings and extended family has rarely been close by or close emotionally. I have never known the love of a brother or sister, nor have I learned to love them. I have never met the right lady, married and/or had kids. I am not complaining, but simply pointing out that perhaps most people in our time do not know true love.
The era in which the Bible was written, both Old and New Testaments, was a very different time. One’s life was defined by family, tribe and nation. The identity of the individual was inherently tied to such relationships. Who you were was defined by who your family was. Your profession and economic station in life was absolutely contingent on your family. Beyond that, you were a Jew or a Gentile, a Roman or a Greek, etc. One did not simply pursue one’s passions, move to another state or country and become a professional in his chosen field. Life was very simple unless in time of war. Your destiny was mostly planned before you were born. You would work in whatever industry in which your father and grandfather had worked, you would marry a cousin through an arranged marriage, you would follow the religion of your ancestors and your kids would do the same. If there was war, you would be a soldier and if you survived and were not promoted for remarkable skill and valor, you would return home to that same life. The family was the basis of everything.
I know that many have difficulty relating to the familial relationships through which our faith is defined in the Bible and in the traditions of the Church. We speak of the Holy Father, the pope, call our priest, father and refer to monks and nuns as brothers and sisters. We pray the Our Father. We pray to the Blessed Mother. We call ourselves the Family of God. But, often we go to Holy Mass and never communicate with another person except in the obligatory greeting. I am not sure how to fix this for people in our era. But, if we commit to re-establishing the primacy of the family, there is hope for the future.
Judson Carroll is the author of several books, including his newest, A Daily Catholic Devotional Reflections on the Daily Mass Readings January-June, 2024. It is Available in paperback on Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0CPD1DC7Q
and
Confirmation, an Autobiography of Faith. It is also Available in paperback on Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0C47Q1JNK
His new podcast is The Uncensored Catholic https://www.spreaker.com/show/the-uncensored-catholic