WEDNESDAY, FIFTH WEEK OF EASTER
Acts 15: 1-6; Ps 122: 1-5; Jn 15: 1-8
ABIDE IN GOD’S LOVE
Was Jesus the Messiah for the Jews or was He the saviour of the whole world? This is a question that might trouble us a little. Jesus is the singular vine from which stems the branches, those which conflict with one another. Even though they are all rooted in the one Christian doctrine, we see in today’s first reading, a dissension between the Jews and Gentiles concerning circumcision. “Would I receive salvation only if I become a Jew first?” troubled the early Church. Jesus clarifies this question, “He came to preach the good news to the poor, to proclaim released to the captives, recover sight to the blind and to set at liberty those who are oppressed.” Jesus extends love and compassion equally to the Gentiles as he did to the Jews. We are all called in today’s readings to abide in Jesus. When we are rooted in him, his mission becomes our mission and we proclaim the gospel of love.
Saint Mother Teresa of Kolkata comes before us as a fitting example of embracing Christ’s mission. The hours she spent before the Blessed Sacrament was the fuel that she burned when she took care of Christ in the poor, the needy and the helpless. Before she became Martha she took time to be Mary. All of us have a contemplative and active dimension in our Christian lives. Today’s readings exhort us to pay attention to the prayerful contemplative dimension – to abide in Jesus – before we venture into the active dimension, may I gain strength from the love of God, or I would be a noisy gong or a clashing symbol as Paul would articulate for us (1 Cor 13:1).
Let this be our prayer today that we may also, like the seeds cast onto good soil which extended its roots deep and grew beautifully, extend our roots deep into the love of Christ and bear fruits that are fitting for the Kingdom, in and through our actions. Let us pay heed to Jesus’ advice and abide in His love and glorify the Father through our lives.
Response: Let us go rejoicing to the house of the Lord.
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