Basic HTML Version
6
TH
S
UNDAY
OF
E
ASTER
Acts of the Apostles 10:25-26, 34-35, 44-48
Psalm 98:1, 2-3, 3-4
1John 4: 7-10
John 15: 9-17
S
UMMARY
In the first reading, Peter claims equal access for all people of faithful action to God's
grace. Our Response is all nations will joyfully witness God's universal saving power.
John˅s letter says that "God is love." John the evangelist says that Jesus commands his
disciples, "Love one another as I have loved you."
R
EFLECTION
The word "love" is flying off the pages of the holy texts in today's readings. Why should-
n't it? It's the seminal word of all scripture because it describes the eternal dynamic ac-
tivity among the three Persons of the Trinity, all of whom sweep us up in their endless
love-fest. More than activity alone, it is their identity and being. Love doesn't describe
them as much as it emanates from them. They exude love to all creation, and all creation
is painted with that brush. The creator of all things to want us to come home and live
with his Son in the company of the Spirit of all that is real. To say that it is generous is a
giggly bit of understatement.
Peter acknowledges that it's better to be a frail human with that kind of invitation than it
is to be regarded as a petty "god" waiting for the adoring crowds to gush over him. In
fact, rather than allow himself to be regarded as in an separate elevated status, he ac-
knowledges that whatever makes him seem special is available to all, even to those far
removed from the original blessings of the house of Abraham. This extraordinary pro-
nouncement was confirmed by a palpable manifestation of the Holy Spirit to all present
which prompted Peter to declare a public end to the debate separating Jew from Gentile
in the new Kingdom under Jesus. Now, all were raised. All stood equal in the sight of
the Lord. The ancient enmities and suspicions were to be washed away in a common
baptism in the name of Jesus. This sentiment is echoing the psalmist's joy at grasping
the universality of God's saving power.
The letter of John, in encouraging love in the community at large, includes the revealed
insight that God and love are inseparable--that love is an essential quality of the identity
of God. He goes further to say that to know and express one is the same as being inti-
mately bound to the other. This, John says, is completely demonstrated in the divine hu-
manity of Jesus - the proactive love of the Father, followed by the faithful response of