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Gospel: John 15: 9-17
Jesus said to his disciples:
“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 might 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 you: love one another.”
The Gospel of the Lord.
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What a beautiful time of year. The flowers are blooming, birds are chirping, and the weather is warming. With the dark days of winter behind us, you might say, “Love is in the air!”
Yes, we’ve officially entered wedding season. Over the next few months, I’ll be celebrating over a dozen weddings. What a joyful time to be a priest!
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When preparing couples for marriage, I always ask them, “What is love?”
You’re promising to love one another all the days of your life, so what is it? What is love? How would you define it?
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Sometimes they struggle to form an answer.
Love can be hard to define. We feel it; we give it; we receive it. But what is it?
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Here are a few examples I’ve heard from engaged couples:
Love is calling you everyday on my way to work just to say you’re on my mind.
Love is asking about your day before telling you about mine.
Love is eating healthier so I can live with you longer.
Love is learning how to listen.
Love is the effort it takes to merge our families into one.
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On this Mother’s Day, I’m sure every mom and dad could add a thousand other examples.
Love is coaching your children through their soccer games; sitting by their side while learning online; holding them tight after their first heartbreak; providing a safe and loving home; doing the dishes and the laundry day after day, year after year.
Love is watching your children go off to college; it’s supporting their dreams, even when they’re different from your own; it’s the pride you feel when you see them succeed, starting a career or a family of their own.
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What else might you add? What is love?
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In the Gospels, Jesus says, “There is no greater love than this, to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.”
Love is an action. It’s something we do all the time.
It’s also something Jesus does when he lays down his life on the Cross. While we can never match his ultimate sacrifice, the Lord encourages us today to continue following his example, laying down our lives in the smallest of ways.
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Apart from loving our closest family and friends, we’re also commanded to feed the hungry, to comfort the bereaved, to care for the sick, to visit the lonely, and to defend the defenseless.
Where can we do such things?
Right here in our parish.
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For example, many of you took our most recent parish survey. Allow me challenge you a little more.
It’s easy to say what we want: a hospitality ministry, a vibrant youth group, a family Mass, a bereavement ministry, an active soup kitchen.
But we have to dig a little deeper to say, “I’ll lay down my time and talent to help make this happen. I’ll be a server, a lector, a Eucharistic Minister. I’ll show up every Sunday. I’ll stand at the door and greet.”
Love is an action – and, at times, a sacrifice.
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Why should we do these things? If love is a sacrifice, then why love at all?
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Maybe you’ve heard me use this line before. In Shakespeare’s famous play, Romeo and Juliet, a young Juliet gazes down upon Romeo and says, “Romeo, the more I give to you the more I seem to have.”
That’s the secret of love. The more we give, the more we have.
It’s true in marriage, it’s true in parenting, and it’s true in our spiritual lives. The more we give to God, to our neighbor, and to our parish, the happier we become.
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So, in what ways might we lay down our lives and love one another this week?
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Image credits: (1) Ivan Guaderrama, The Patience of Love (2) Healing Refuge Fellowship (3) www.staidansbenton.yolasite.com (4) South Bay Bible Church