The Gospel according to John (14:21-26)
Jesus said to his disciples: “Whoever has my commandments and observes them is the one who loves me. Whoever loves me will be loved by my Father, and I will love him and reveal myself to him.” Judas, not the Iscariot, said to him, “Master, then what happened that you will reveal yourself to us and not to the world?” Jesus answered and said to him, “Whoever loves me will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our dwelling with him. Whoever does not love me does not keep my words; yet the word you hear is not mine but that of the Father who sent me. “I have told you this while I am with you. The Advocate, the Holy Spirit whom the Father will send in my name — he will teach you everything and remind you of all that I told you.”
Reflection: John wrote in this Scripture; “The Advocate, the Holy Spirit whom the Father will send in my name — he will teach you everything and remind you of all that I told you.”
A few weeks ago, while dealing with COVID I was forced to sit around. I decided to re-watch a movie series called the “Hobbit”. In the last movie of the series called “The Battle of the Five Armies” there was a female elf and a male dwarf that fell in Love. It was unheard of and unacceptable from both cultures, but their love was stronger no matter what challenges were presented in front of them. Additionally, the elves were inherently born without emotion therefore they didn’t get to experience “Love”, but this one elf did feel it. The end of the movie (series), there was this great battle where the men, elves and the dwarfs united to fight against evil which was the Orcs. At the end of the battle, good defeated evil but the dwarf was killed, and the elf cried over him. And she made this profound statement, “What is the thing called Love because it hurts, and I don’t want it”.
That deep and thoughtful statement is exactly true, Love does hurt but there are many, many beautiful blessings that happen to you when you love God, one another, and you love yourself. Love isn’t easy especially when you have to say goodbye to someone. All those memories hurt and make you weep. But have you ever thought of what your life would be like if you didn’t love someone therefore you had no memories? It even wasn’t easy for Jesus to love while here on earth, but He never gave up. It’s easier to have hope and unify together as one team to embrace each other and not judge. Why should we judge because we know that none of us is perfect! We all have flaws and make mistakes but it’s our mission to continue to love.
There are so many types of love and many ways to show it. When you “Love”, we must suffer through to something higher, something more unified, more conscious. Hope must be born repeatedly, for where there is love, there is always hope. To “Love”, sometimes we must hurt in order to know, fall in order to grow, lose in order to gain, because most of life’s greatest lessons are learned through pain.
Fr. Pedro Arrupe, SJ, defined love this way. “Nothing is more practical than finding God, than falling in Love in a quite absolute, final way. What you are in love with, what seizes your imagination, will affect everything. It will decide what will get you out of bed in the morning, what you do with your evenings, how you spend your weekends, what you read, whom you know, what breaks your heart, and what amazes you with joy and gratitude. Fall in Love, stay in love, and it will decide everything”.
Action of the Day: It’s a simple request but sometimes not so easy to do. Contact 3 people in your life that you don’t see that often and tell them that you love them. Send it via text, email, by phone, or face to face.
Audio Reflection:
DEACON5 