Sunday 18th May 2025 5th Sunday of Easter

Jesus exemplifies what love really means today, when he talks of his “glorification,” a Johannine term for his crucifixion and death. Jesus forewarned his followers that where he was going, they couldn’t go with him immediately, but later. In other words, Jesus was about to die for the salvation of the world, but each disciple too will die eventually, but not immediately. It is the purpose for which one dies that determines one’s glorification or non-glorification. What can you die for, money?

The immediate point of interest is not death, but the mission of love Jesus makes imperative for those who are his disciples as a precondition for the continuous presence of Christ in the world and as means for eternal salvation. The power of sacrificial love replicates the presence of Christ in Christians. Indeed, Christians are the visible presences of the invisible Christ. The power and example of sacrificial love ensures that Christ is present among us up until the end of time. And, it is on the basis of how much we have loved and lived out the commandment of sacrificial love that we will give an account of out earthly dwelling to God on judgment day. Can you point to one such example in your life, where you showed readiness for death out of love?

Paul’s claim, in our first reading, that “It is necessary for us to undergo many hardships to enter the kingdom of God” (Acts 14:22b) is very important for every true Christian. These “hardships” are engendered by love, so they are sweet yokes, yokes we carry with Christ for our salvation! An added element, which Paul gives as admonition today, is fidelity or perseverance: “[he] exhorted them to persevere in the faith” Acts 14:22a); this virtue of perseverance is capital because people easily chicken out when the going gets tough, when the odds are against them; remember that Christ gave his life for us as an example of endurance and perseverance.

Our second reading reminds us of the necessity for God’s new commandment of love – so that God might dwell among us, for God is love! This is the way our second reading puts it: “Behold, God’s dwelling is with the human race. He will dwell with them and they will be his people and God himself will always be with them as their God” (Revelation 21:3). Our task is to make earth a heaven before the heaven of the hereafter: God wants us to create the image of heaven here upon earth, before we return to him. The sole ingredient for the creation of heaven on earth is LOVE, sacrificial love, for where there is love there is God because God is love and he dwells in love.

From Fr. Ayo Ayeni C.S.Sp.