By David Peter csc –
Readings: Acts 15: 22-31; Jn 15: 12-17
The gospel reading poses a question, ‘who can be a true friend?’ We read and hear a lot about the value of true friendship in social media. The gospel of the day gives us the love commandment of Jesus and asks us to be ready to give one’s own life for our friends. The true example of an authentic friend is our friend Jesus. Jesus called us his friends and gave his total self for us on the cross.
By giving himself on the cross, Jesus renewed and strengthened our friendship with God, the Father. In order to become a friend of Jesus, we need to become a friend of God. A central verse of today’s gospel is “You did not choose me, but I chose you.”
This means that Jesus has chosen us to share the love and joy by sending us into the world to love one another as he has loved us. We know that we have been chosen by the Lord to love, but still our selfishness, human limitations, and competition in the world lead us to enmity and break our loving relationship with one another. Today, as we reflect over the commandment of love, let us ask his grace to go beyond the worldly pleasures to love one another and share the joy of the Lord with others.