Providence Spirituality

Gospel of May 5, 2024 according to John 15:9-17
As the Father loves me, so I also love you. Remain in my love. If you keep my commandments, you will remain in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commandments and remain in his love. “I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and your joy may be complete. This is my commandment: love one another as I love you. No one has greater love than this, to lay down one’s life for one’s friends. You are my friends if you do what I command you. I no longer call you slaves, because a slave does not know what his master is doing. I have called you friends, because I have told you everything I have heard from my Father. It was not you who chose me, but I who chose you and appointed you to go and bear fruit that will remain, so that whatever you ask the father in my name he may give you. This I command I give you: love one another.

Reflection on the Gospel  of May 5, 2024 –

Gospel of Jesus Christ according to John 15:9-17 –

Everyone believes that love is important and, in reality, love is not a feeling; it is a choice and action.  God is the source of our love.  The supreme example of God’s love for us is to lay down His only Son’s life for us by hanging on a cross, while we are still sinners, so we may live through him.

Recently I came across a reading in the breviary; it said, “Love and sacrifice are the essentials for a life of union with God.”  We may not have to die for someone, but each day presented us with plenty of opportunities to practice sacrificial love: a listening ear, helping hands, encouragement, sharing/giving, practicing patience etc. Since God’s love has been revealed to us through Jesus Christ, Christ must be invited into our daily walk to sustain our spiritual life.

Jesus made the first choice—to love and to die for us, for us to live with him forever.  We make the next choice-to accept or reject his offer.  Without his choice, we would have no choice to make.  We have freedom to choose, and we are not coerced to follow what has been written in stone.  God understands human weaknesses and will never abandon us; Paul said in his epistle to the Corinthians, “For when I am weak, then I am strong.”  God’s grace is sufficient for us in time of doubt and adversity.  Be humble and ask. He listens to us because we are his children.

We are sojourners on earth.  When we see the Creator face to face at the end of our earthly journey, we will be asked not how great our achievement was, but how we loved each other.

Sister Christina Wong, SP