1ST READING - Acts 10:25-26, 34-35, 44-48
P S A L M - Psalm 98:1, 2-3, 3-4
R: The Lord has revealed to the nations his saving power.
1 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) 2 The Lord has made his salvation known: in the sight of the nations he has revealed his justice. 3 He has remembered his kindness and his faithfulness toward the house of Israel. (R) All the ends of the earth have seen the salvation by our God. 4 Sing joyfully to the Lord, all you lands; break into song; sing praise. (R)
2nd READING - 1 John 4:7-10
GOSPEL ACCLAMATION
Whoever loves me will keep my word, says the Lord, and my Father will love him and we will come to him.
John 15:9-17
9 Jesus said to his disciples: “As the Father loves me, so I also love you. Remain in my love. 10 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. 11“I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and your joy may be complete. 12 This is my commandment: love one another as I love you. 13 No one has greater love than this, to lay down one’s life for one’s friends. 14 You are my friends if you do what I command you. 15 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. 16 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.17 This I command you: love one another.”
1st READING 2nd READING
GOSPEL PSALM
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LOVE INCARNATE
I was talking to one of our seminarians who has just finished his pastoral exposure in a province. During the month-long exposure, he spent two weeks in a remote area working with the farmers. He planted rice with them, worked with them in the fields, helped them establish their cooperatives, and taught catechism to their children in the evenings. But being so far from the poblacion and the chapel, he was not able to attend Mass for two weeks. “So how’s that? You didn’t have Mass for two weeks!” I asked him. “Yes, Father, but I think it’s OK. I spent the time loving instead,” he answered in jest. He may have said it jokingly, but I think he really meant it.
Come to think of it, isn’t love the most important commandment of Jesus? Today’s Gospel is a long discourse on love punctuated by the command, “Love one another as I have loved you.”
Love is the greatest of all the prescriptions. It is more important than cult, worship and liturgy. Love is the heart of the Christian life without which all our worship are rendered empty. We may be deprived (not by our own fault) of the liturgy or of cultic worship but we can still be a Christian if we continue to love. Our seminarian was without Mass for two weeks but he was not without love. He was still a good Christian.
Yes, the Mass is the apex, the source and summit of the Christian life. But it is so only insofar as it is “enfleshed” by our concrete acts of loving. The Eucharist is a celebration of life. It should never be divorced from our concrete acts of loving.
When Jesus said, “Do this in memory of me,” He was not referring to a sentimental remembrance of Himself. The Lord is not lacking in attention. Rather, He invites every Christian to love as He loved. When a Christian loves, he celebrates the memory of Jesus. When a Christian loves, the celebration of the Eucharist becomes a real celebration of life.
Today, let us ask the Lord to make us better and real Christians. As we remember Jesus, let us ask Him to make us better lovers. Fr. Joel Jason
REFLECTION QUESTION: How does the Mass empower you to heed the Christian admonition to love?
In the Eucharist, we encounter You, Love Incarnate. May we incarnate Your love to others, too, when they encounter us.
Our Lady of Fatima, pray for us.
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