by Fr. Julius C. Lupot

READINGS:Acts 10: 25-26. 43-35. 44-48   /   Psalm 98: 1. 2-3. 3-4   /   1 John 4: 7-10   /

JOHN 15: 9-17

HIS WORD… THIS IS MY COMMANDMENT: LOVE ONE ANOTHER AS I LOVE YOU. NO ONE HAS GREATER LOVE THAN THIS, TO LAY DOWN ONE’S LIFE FOR ONE’S FRIENDS…

my words…Today is the Sixth Sunday of Easter and we have just listened to the beautiful gospel of John on God’s Love. In contra-distinction to the Greek words to mean ‘love’ – which is ‘eros’ referring to the passion that seeks some form of possession of the person or object loved, and ‘philia’ which denotes the love of kin or those very closely related, St. John made use of the Greek word ‘agape’ to describe the highest form or degree of loving and to mean the “love of God”. Applied also to mean the love for neighbor, ‘agape’ type of love wove together the love that God has for Jesus, the love that Jesus has for his friends, and the love the friends have for one another (Fr. Gil A. Alinsangan, SSP. 365 Days with the Lord, May 10, 2015 – Sunday Reflection). And the source of this love is divine love itself: “As the Father loves me, so I love you” (Jn 15:9); “love one another as I love you” (Jn 15:12). And this is the love that enables one “to lay down one’s life for one’s friends” (Jn 15:13). And Jesus did it by dying on the cross for us. Why on the cross? Because the cross is the ultimate symbol of truest love: the vertical – to our love of God, and the horizontal – to our love of neighbor… all taken by Jesus to show us the love of the Father and our love for one another = the par exemplar or highest model of true love… That is why He said, “This is my commandment: Love one another as I love you” (Jn 15:12). Jesus Christ became the ultimate criterion of lovingand of how to truly love God and neighbor…

Brothers and Sisters, today, the 2^nd Sunday of May, is “Mothers’ Day”.  In our family structure, we may ask: Who among our parents can really and readily give his/her life for the children? A spontaneous and general answer would be the “mothers”. Why? Because of the physical intimacy children have with their mothers. Even at the very beginning of our earthly life, for nine (9) months we were at the womb of our respective mothers. Whatever our mothers have, we also have… We were so dependent to our mothers when we were in their wombs. We owe a lot our life to our mothers. They have sacrificed a lot for us, my dear children! So let this day be “recognition” of the sacrifices, love, tender care, and of everything that our mothers have done for us. Without them, we don’t have life. Through our mothers we first experienced the love of God. They are the ones whom Jesus pointed out, “Ready to lay their lives for their children…” and we cannot deny that, my dear children! Let this day also be a thanksgiving to the Lord for the gift of our mothers. Let this day be their day to honor, love, and obey (our mothers) for apart from them we can do nothing. HAPPY MOTHERS’ DAY!!!

My dear “Fathers”, don’t worry… you will have your share on the 3^rd Sunday of June…

MAY GOD BLESS OUR BELOVED MOTHERSFOREVER…