A reading from the Holy Gospel according to John 15:9-11
(Glory to you O Lord!)
Jesus said to his disciples:
“As the Father loves me, so I also love you.
Remain in my love.
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.
“I have told you this so that
my joy might be in you and
your joy might be complete.”
(The Gospel of the Lord. Praise to you Lord Jesus Christ!)
Reflection: We are loved by God
During this time of Easter we continue to have the privilege to recollect and be reminded of the reason to why Jesus came to save us from sin as He suffered, died and was risen again. Some of us may ask. Why did Jesus have to endure all that? Why did He have to suffer for all human kind?
The reason is because God, the Father, the son, and the Holy Spirit loves us! God truly loves us! I know, when challenges and problems occur around us, we sometimes wonder if we are truly loved. But God does not want us to suffer, He is with us. God truly loves us as He sent our Lord Jesus to free us from sin and eternal death, to be our model, and He wants us to be reunited with Him in Heaven, in Paradise!
And why does He loves us? It is because “love” is the nature of God. God created us that we may be granted the grace and privilege to share and experience the beauty of all of His creation, to receive God’s daily blessings, and to be in His eternal and holy presence. A life of joy and peace. We were meant to live lives in harmony, forever in easy fellowship with God!
If it was not for the disobedience of our very first ancestors, Adam and Eve, we would be living in Paradise, forever in peace and harmony. Paradise was lost to human kind because of the poor choices that were made by our first ancestors, as they went against the commands of God.
But fear not, brothers and sister, because of God’s great love for us, our Lord Jesus came to be with us, to show us the way to goodness and holiness. The commands God gives us are actually simple. Jesus teaches us to love God with all our hearts, souls, our minds, and all our strength, and to love our neighbor as ourselves. These two greatest commandments encompass all the other commandments.
Jesus also implores us to continue to follow His example, to obey His commands, to learn His words and His ways through Holy Scripture. And Jesus gives us of himself as He strengthens and grants us His loving mercy through the Sacraments for the rest of our earthly journey, and Jesus accompanies us through His spirit to guide and prompt us to choose what is good and holy.
Brothers and Sisters, God truly loves and cares for us. Jesus is our model for holiness and goodness. He leads us to our salvation and eternal life with Him. May we all be aware of Jesus’ presence and His daily promptings, and may we always choose to follow His examples of compassion led by His Spirit!
Action for the Day:
Make time to review the commandments of God and ask our Lord Jesus to increase our faith as we read the ten commandments, and the Beatitudes of our Lord Jesus. Ask Jesus to show us how we can truly love God and our neighbor, to guide us on how we can truly respect and be patient with one another, on how to avoid conflict and war, on how to truly forgive, how to be generous, how to help one another out of love and care not just for ourselves. To help us to seek to understand each other in His gentleness and love, and not to always insist on having our way, to provide for each others needs without counting the costs, to protect the innocent, the elderly, the migrants and to honor everyone.
Lord Jesus, guides us through your Spirit us to choose your ways and to follow the commandments, to receive and avail of Your holy sacraments, and to keep the Sabbath day. These we pray in your most Holy name. Amen.
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