Whoever loves me will be loved by my Father

SUNDAY 17 MAY (Jn 14,15-21)

Is it fair to ask, who loves Christ Jesus? And more. How do you love him? Love for Jesus is twofold because it comes from a twofold source: from the Gospel and the Holy Spirit. From the Gospel love is born which is obedience to every moral or even spiritual law. Every word of Jesus must be observed, it must be given all obedience, if you want to love the Lord. But then there is the second source, the Holy Spirit. Here is how St. Paul outlines this love in the First Letter to the Corinthians:  “There are different kinds of spiritual gifts but the same Spirit; there are different forms of service but the same Lord; there are different workings but the same God who produces all of them in everyone. To each individual the manifestation of the Spirit is given for some benefit. As a body is one though it has many parts, and all the parts of the body, though many, are one body, so also Christ. For in one Spirit we were all baptized into one body, whether Jews or Greeks, slaves or free persons, and we were all given to drink of one Spirit. Now you are Christ’s body, and individually parts of it. Some people God has designated in the church to be, first, apostles; second, prophets; third, teachers; then, mighty deeds; then, gifts of healing, assistance, administration, and varieties of tongues. Are all apostles? Are all prophets? Are all teachers? Do all work mighty deeds? Do all have gifts of healing? Do all speak in tongues? Do all interpret?” (Cf. 1Cor 12,1-31). Each member of the body of Christ, while observing the Law of Christ, obeys the mission that the Holy Spirit has conferred through the charisma bestowed on him.

In the Letter to the Ephesians he also gives this way to love according to the Holy Spirit: “I, then, a prisoner for the Lord, urge you to live in a manner worthy of the call you have received, with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another through love, striving to preserve the unity of the spirit through the bond of peace: one body and one Spirit, as you were also called to the one hope of your call; one Lord, one faith, one baptism; one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all. But grace was given to each of us according to the measure of Christ’s gift. And he gave some as apostles, others as prophets, others as evangelists, others as pastors and teachers, to equip the holy ones for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ, until we all attain to the unity of faith and knowledge of the Son of God, to mature manhood, to the extent of the full stature of Christ” (Eph 4,1-16). If we don’t live the love that flows from the Gospel, never might weyou live the love that comes from the Holy Spirit. The more we grow in love according to the Gospel, the more love according to the Spirit of God will grow.

“If you love me, you will keep my commandments. And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Advocate to be with you always, the Spirit of truth, which the world cannot accept, because it neither sees nor knows it. But you know it, because it remains with you, and will be in you. I will not leave you orphans; I will come to you. In a little while the world will no longer see me, but you will see me, because I live and you will live. On that day you will realize that I am in my Father and you are in me and I in you. Whoever has my commandments and observes them is the one who loves me. And whoever loves me will be loved by my Father, and I will love him and reveal myself to him.”

Whoever wants to be powerfully led by the Holy Spirit must be strong, indeed very strong in the love of obedience to the law of Christ. We love the Gospel, we obey it, we listen to the Word of Jesus, the Holy Spirit comes, takes up residence in us and lives in us. But what is the purpose for which the Spirit drives and moves us? The goal is one and it is always the same, unchanging over the centuries: making the body of Christ grow in holiness, so that it may grow in the acquisition of new members. A body that does not grow in numbers attests that it does not grow even in holiness. Holiness multiplies children for our God. If we do not grow in holiness, it is a sign that we are out of the first obedience: obedience to every Word of Jesus. When the Christian is without the Gospel he is also without the Spirit.

Mother of God, Angels and Saints make us Christians with true obedience to Christ and the Spirit.