May 13, 2012: 6th Sunday of Easter
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 may be in you
and your joy might be complete.
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.
You are my friends if you do what I command you.
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.
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.
This I command you: love one another.” (John 15:9-17)
Easter is the great feast of love! We read about love during all of the Easter readings. It almost seems as if whoever wrote these gospels was stuttering…love, love, LOVE… Easter is the remembering of how much Jesus loves us, how much Jesus loves his Father, and how we are encouraged every day during this beautiful season to love each other!
Action:
It seems as if the right action during Eastertime is then, to love. As a good practice during this time, write down today between five and ten ways you think you could show love to your parents during the rest of this Easter season–which will end with Pentecost, on the last Sunday in May.
After you have written these down, put them in a place where you will see them every day–but a place where your parents will not see them, since you want your acts of love to surprise them.