John Desing csc –
Readings: Acts 8:5-8, 14-17; 1Pet 3:15-18; Jn 14:15-21
Love is the foundational virtue of our existence. God created us out of love. He sent his only beloved Son to redeem his people because he loved us. His Son Jesus emptied himself and became a man like us out of his love for Father’s will. And Christ having lived like us, and obeyed the plan of his father, taught us to follow his path with love.
If we love God, we will keep his commandments. No one can force someone else to love him/her. When there is love there is freedom. In loving God, we become freer. In doing God’s will we become loving people and we inspire others to love and to do justice. When love is the driving force of our lives all other passions namely lust, greed, gluttony, avarice, etc will no longer enslave us.
The readings of today beautifully unfold to us the self-emptying love of the Son and the Spirit of the Trinity. Having accomplished his part, the Son now entrusted the mission of the Father to Spirit. All of us today as the embodiment of the spirit is called to continue that mission of hope and love. Each of us by virtue of baptism and our Christian calling manifests the merciful-loving face of the Father to the world.
The early disciples of Jesus did what was commanded not out of fear and force but out of their conviction and love of Christ. Let us ask the Holy Spirit to revive our drooping spirit so that we become zealous and active in our relationships with others.