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5th Sunday of Easter, 2025
“I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, ‘Behold, God’s dwelling is with the human race. He will dwell with them and they will be his people and God himself will wipe every tear from their eyes, and there shall be no more death or mourning, wailing or pain, for the old order has passed away.’ The One who sat on the throne said, ‘Behold, I make all things new.’” (Rev. 21:3-6)
Last Sunday we celebrated Good Shepherd Sunday. The Church laid before us Jesus’ mission to shepherd his flock to the pastures of eternal life by laying down his life for his sheep. Today’s liturgy could be called New Life Sunday. “Behold, I make all things new.”
Jesus explains to his disciples the meaning of the newness which he came to inaugurate on earth. It can be summed up in just one word: love. We all know that there are many forms of love: romantic love, love of family and friends. And last but not least is the love that is the substance of what Jesus commands us, to love as he has loved us. That is how we will be recognized as Christians: by the love (agape) that we have for one another. So just how did Jesus love? How does God love? Do we have to feel it to know that we are loving as Jesus loves? Agape means that we will the good of the other. It is a desire for the good of the other that is expressed in what we do and say and respond to each and every person. And it is how we are recognized are recognized as Christians. All of Jesus’ actions were expressions of his deep desire for the good of the other. To the man born blind, to the crowds who followed him and were hungry. To love as Jesus loved is to break free from the stranglehold of one’s egotism. This is where it becomes a new commandment. How is this so?
I’ll try to explain by giving you an example. Our Sr. Clare, who is in a nursing home, is wont to say, “I’m a little tabernacle of God’s presence here.” Indeed, we are all little tabernacles because God’s dwelling is with the human race. He resides in each and everyone. To really believe that and seek to live it is to move beyond the stifling limits of our egotism where it’s all about me, and to become a new creation where it’s all about responding to God who is in us and all creation. It is to love one another as Jesus has loved us.
May each of us become the new creation created in Christ Jesus for good works of love expressed in living Jesus’ New Commandment to love one another.