Homily for the 5th Sunday of Easter

Fr. Brian Cavanaugh tells a story about "a kind (elderly) gentleman (who) used to stop by occasionally at an antique shop in New Hampshire to sell furniture. One day after he had left, the antique dealer's wife said she wished she had told him how much she enjoyed his visits. The husband said, 'Next time, let's tell him so.'

"The following summer, a young woman came in and introduced herself as the daughter of the (elderly) gentleman. Her father, she said, had died. Then the wife told her about the conversation she and her husband had after the old gentleman's last visit. The young woman's eyes filled with tears. 'Oh, how much good that would have done my father!' she cried, 'He was a man who needed to be reassured that he was liked.' 'Since that day,' the shopkeeper said later, 'whenever I think something particularly nice about people, I tell them. I might never get another chance." [1]

In our Gospel reading today, Jesus gives a final command to His disciples and to us. He says, "I give you a new commandment: love one another. As I have loved you, so you also should love one another." [2]

This command sounds very simple, but it is not. The simple part is to love those who love us. It is very easy for us to look past the faults and foibles of our friends and family.[3] While we might be critical of them for different things, it takes a lot for us to turn our backs on them.

The kind of love Jesus talks about is very difficult because for us to truly love one another as Jesus has loved us means that we have to love those that society says are unlovable or undeserving of our love. For each person, the people who fit into these categories are different. Perhaps those we have difficulty loving are criminals, the poor, the rich, the mentally ill, those of other races and cultures, those who are sick through their lack of care for themselves, angry people, mean people, people who hold different values than we do, people who seem arrogant, or people who have a whole host of personalities that rub against our own.

Suddenly, Jesus' command to love one another as He has loved us doesn't seem so easy. Yet, Jesus loves all of these people as He loved the same kind of people when He walked this earth, just as you and I do today.

Each of us is called to walk as Jesus did if we wish to enter the kingdom of God at the end of time. And Jesus tells us that whoever wishes to come after Him, that person must deny himself or herself, take up their cross, and follow Him. [4] We must follow Jesus' example of selfless love and charity. We must reach out to those in need, those who are suffering, those who are lonely or oppressed, and, through our words and actions of compassion, convey to them the loving presence of God in our midst.

God made each of us to share His love with others. Each one of us is called to be an instrument of God's love, and this includes those who may do us wrong, those we find annoying or irritating, those with whom we disagree, those we find repulsive, and those with whom we experience discomfort, or even those who find these things in us.

As we move forth from this celebration of the Eucharist, let us be ever mindful of God's call to love. And, when we struggle to love certain people, let us turn to Christ, who gave us this call. Let us look at His life on earth and the selfless way that He loved even those who did not love Him. May the life of Christ be our model, and may His call to love be at the forefront of all we do as the children of God. Let us pray to God for the strength to answer that call with all our heart, with all our mind, and with all our soul.[5]

[1] Cavanaugh, Brian, The Sower's Seeds, "Tell Them, Now", Paulist Press, New York, NY, 1990, pp. 45-46.

[2] John 13: 34

[3] Knowles, Desmond, Voicing a Thought on Sunday, Twenty-third Publications, Mystic, CT, 1991, p. 300.

[4] Matthew 16:24

[5] Matthew 22:37