Fifth Sunday of Easter

Fifth Sunday of Easter - Year C

This week we continue to hear from the Gospel of John. Though all of the Gospels tell the story of the same Jesus, John's account takes a different view than that of Matthew, Mark and Luke. In it Jesus is presented more explicitly in His divinity, as the incarnate God who reaches down from heaven to draw us to God.

When Jesus commands his disciples therefore to 'Love one another as I have loved you' we can understand this on two levels.

One is that love that Jesus will exemplify on the cross, a self-giving love that puts the other first. An extravagant love that does not guard the heart but is poured out, whether it is requited or not.

The other is captured in the opening of the responsorial psalm, "the Lord is full of compassion, slow to anger and quick to love." And as I read these words, this is what stands out, and what challenges me the most.

It's easy to love people when they are lovable. But understanding what lies underneath the behaviour that hurts you and forgiving, that's tough. And the closer the person is that hurts you, the harder it is.

Christian love then, is exemplified in both service and forgiveness.

I confess that, right now, it is the latter that I am finding hardest. That I find myself dwelling on my hurts, turning them over in my head. With the result is that relationships become fragmented. That I continue to perform acts of service but without my heart being completely in them.

This then is my challenge and my prayer. That I can reconnect the head and the heart. To stop dwelling on, and once again dwell in my relationships. To love as I am loved.

Comments

Twenty-Seventh Sunday in Ordinary Time - Year B

Early in the final year of my teacher training at Mount Saint Mary's I fell in love. Within months I had decided that this girl was the one. By the end of that year I was off to the country as a beginning teacher, leaving her behind in Sydney to complete her own studies. For the next three years I lived alone in small flat next to the local footy oval. I involved myself in sport, community service and work, and kept myself very busy. I enjoyed it all, but without her, it was never home. In the latter part of my third year, I was applying for four or five jobs a week, longing to get back to her. After what must have been twenty-five or thirty applications a principal asked me straight out in an interview why I was so determined to come back to the city. I told him the truth, and within fifteen minutes of the interview, he offered me the job. I called my mum, and then I called Shayne. My experience of long-distance love (and telephone bills) is why the opening line of th...

Sixteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time - Year C

In this Sunday's Gospel we hear the story of Mary and Martha. It is Martha, we are told, that welcomes Jesus into her house, and immediately she sets about doing exactly what is culturally expected of her. She begins to serve the Lord. We aren't given the details but we can imagine that she is preparing food, drink and welcome for Jesus. And that she would have come to wash his feet. Yet when she does, she finds that her sister Mary is there 'sat at the Lord's feet and listening to Him.' The Gospel tells us that Martha is frustrated - upset that she is doing all the work while her sister assumes the posture of a disciple. And it tells us that she directs her frustration at Jesus, not Mary. "Don't you care..." As we have come to expect, Jesus' answer challenges Martha's righteousness. Mary, she is told, has chosen the better part, and it is not to be taken from her. The story ends abruptly, and we don't get to hear what Martha'...

Pentecost - Year C

This Sunday we celebrate the Feast of Pentecost. The entrance antiphon proclaims that 'The love of God has been poured into our hearts through the Spirit of God dwelling within us.' The immediate and vivid memory this prompts in me is primary school, felt banners, guitars and children's voices belting out... ♫ God is dwelling in my Heart. He and I are one. All His joy He gives to me, through Christ His son. And with Jesus in my heart, what have I to fear. For He is the Son if God. In my Heart he is near. To this day it's a loud sense-memory, and a happy one. In the first reading this Sunday we also hear a loud sense-memory from the apostles. 'Suddenly, they heard what sounded like a powerful wind from heaven, the noise of which filled the entire house.' The Gospel tells us that they were all gathered in one place 'for fear of the Jews.' It's not clear whether there is any particular threat that they are hiding from, or whether the...

Scripture Reflections Seeking Understanding

Search This Blog