"As I have loved you, so you should love one another.
This is how they will know you are my disciples."
John 13: 31- 33, 34-35
The Sunday Word: http://usccb.org/bible/readings/051919.cfm
St. Augustine was likely the most influential
theologian/philosopher of the early centuries of the Church. His early pagan hedonistic life was
profoundly turned around through his eventual conversion to Christianity. So his famous quote: “Love and do what you will” may raise a few eyebrows and some
confusion. For a time, Augustine did
indeed do what he wanted. He
participated in a pagan lifestyle, was active sexually, fathered a son out of
marriage, etc. So, what exactly is Augustine referring to when he says: “Do
what you want?” The first part of the statement about love for God is clear but
“do what you want” sounds like permission to live a double lifestyle? Not at all.
Here are Augustine’s words: I
give you this one short command: love, and do what you will. If you hold your
peace, hold your peace out of love. If you cry out, cry out in love. If you
correct someone, correct them out of love. If you spare them, spare them out of
love. Let the root of love be in you: nothing can spring from it but good. …
This love is at the basis of Christianity.
This Sunday in our Easter journey our Gospel from John 13 takes
us back to a moment with the Apostles at the Last Supper. Judas has just left the upper room to carry
out his destiny. We can only imagine the
disciples sitting there in some confusion about why he left – or so the Gospels
imply such. Jesus had spoken of betrayal
but clearly none of them, except Judas, could imagine what Jesus meant –
betray? How could they?
Nonetheless, Judas appeared to do what he wanted; to cooperate
with the power of darkness and become the legendary betrayer of the innocent
Lord. There was no love for God behind his
motive and at the very best a now warped sense of loyalty to Jesus. Although
Jesus well knew his fateful future, he speaks of glory: Now is the Son of Man glorified and God is glorified in him. This was the moment of decision when Jesus
embraced the fullness of his mission for humankind and submitted himself to the
cross which has brought “glory” to Jesus and through him to all humanity
through the resurrection. Now, however, Jesus speaks of a new commandment - of love.
So, it is the end of Jesus ’earthly life that brings everything
he said and did to its ultimate meaning – that of love lived out. A love lived out in self-sacrifice and in
relationship with his Father, which motivated Jesus constantly to carry forward
with his mission to repair the broken relationship forever between humankind
and God, established at the fall of Adam and Eve. His will was conformed to that of his Father
because of the love he had. So Jesus did
what he wanted, which had become his Father’s will to pour out his life as
savior and bring hope to a humanity lost in the darkness and separation of sin.
That love in action is what Jesus wants for his disciples: “I give you a new commandment: love one another. As I have loved you,
so you also should love one another.
This is how all will know that you are my disciples, if you have love
for one another.” The power do what what we will out of love, as St. Augustine puts, will be the distinctive mark of those who believe in Christ Jesus. That behavior has the power to transform society and establish his kingdom values on earth.
The distinctive mark of the ideal Christian community is that
we become so noticed that others are attracted to us and inspired by how we live and
pray together. What we want to do is to carry out our Christian mission to repair
brokenness, welcome the lost, and heal wounds in the “field hospital,” as Pope
Francis has coined, of the body of Christ, the Church. But it is far more than just being nice people.
Jesus’ own wish is that we give witness to his life by
imitating his way of love as he has loved us. It is not a love based in
feelings and emotions but a love of conviction and faith in the person of Jesus
the Christ. To see this
kind of love in community life such as marriage and family and visibly
expressed in parish life is our ideal. Why do people walk away from the Church
or find it not attractive enough to join?
A variety of reasons but one of the most fundamental is that they either
have felt wounded and rejected or they simply do not feel welcome.
As Paul moved from ancient city to ancient city, as we hear in
the first reading from Acts 14, he found himself confronted with the diverse
cultural prejudices, philosophies, gods and goddesses, with Greek speaking and
Hebrew speaking peoples of Jew and Gentile.
Paul brought this “new” Gospel of Jesus – the new command of love into
these communities. With the faith of
Christ himself, crucified and risen, Paul and his band of other missionaries
such as Barnabas, rooted these ancient peoples in the power of the Spirit as
the Gentile world began to explode with this new vision of God and new way of
relating to our fellow men and women.
What brought this diversity into one Body of Christ was the
universal call to love. Many noticed how
that was most beautifully expressed in their gathering for Word and Sacrament,
when they broke bread together, with faith in Christ’s own presence among them,
they saw who they were and had become. As they grew in love for God they did
what they wanted, which was to carry out his mission in the world.
The same is true today, perhaps even more, as we face the
challenges of our own day and culture.
The indifference towards religion, the materialism, the lack of
attention towards God, the hostility for mention of religion in public life and
on and on should be a wake-up call and an opportunity to live by what we
believe. We attract more by how we live
and act than by the words we say.
Jesus has given us a new commandment; a new way of seeing God
and one another. We have power to
transform our lives and those around us so: Love God and do what (he)
wants.
Almighty ever-living God,
constantly accomplish the Paschal Mystery within us,
that those you were pleased to make new in Holy Baptism
may, under your protective care, bear much fruit
and come to the joys of life eternal.
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