Fr. Ernald M. Andal, SJ
5th Sunday in Ordinary Time
May 2, 2021
We like to think that we always love unselfishly. But often, we really just choose to “love” some people under “certain conditions.”
In short, some of us can wittingly or unwittingly fall into a “transactional” kind of loving: tit for tat; quid pro quo; you scratch my back, I scratch your back.
Sooner or later, we recognize that this limiting manner of “loving” leads to disappointments and discords in relationships.
When our expectations in our relationships are not met, some get frustrated and give up; some lash out; some spiral into despair and codependency.
Loving unselfishly is easier said than done. It’s not easy to love, especially when true love waits for nothing in return but seeks only the good of the beloved.
That is why our readings for today, on the 5th Sunday of Easter, remind us emphatically that if we are to love, we ought to love not simply according to our human terms. We must love with the love of Christ.
And this begins not with our white-knuckled effort to love God and then love others. It starts with our own experience of being God’s “beloved.”
It begins with a recognition, with an acknowledgment, with grateful amazement, that God has sought each one of us and has loved us to life–for all eternity even as we had been sinners.
Good Shepherd Sunday last week was a wonderful reminder of how our God has loved us first. Our Good Shepherd is Emmanuel: God with us. He is our God who freely and fearlessly commits to enter the messiness of our lives.
He even allows himself to be “messed up” by our careless wanderings as He tirelessly seeks us. Leading and bringing each one of us to green pastures and running streams where we find nourishment and rest—offering His very life so that we may have life eternal.
And this ought to be the starting point of all our efforts to love: That God is the first to love us beyond words so that we too can “love not just in word or speech but in deed and truth.”
It is to have that deep connection to and experience of God’s saving love for each one of us that empowers us, by His Grace to truly love one another as He has commanded.
The Gospel echoes this same message as St. John highlights Jesus’ words: “Just as a branch cannot bear fruit on its own unless it remains on the vine, so neither can you unless you remain in me.”
To love authentically and with greater integrity, we must be rooted into the only source of that life-giving and life-bearing love: Jesus himself. He who is God is love.
What does this mean for us as we continue to struggle in this pandemic?
We are reminded to stay fused in faith to our God, not in fatalistic fideism but through faithful discipleship. We continue to believe in faith; pray in hope; love in service.
We allow God’s Word to nourish us and renew our weary souls. We gather in prayer (even online) as long as it is honest and sincere. We find ways to overcome our fear and greed and be neighbors to one another: Whether in the mindful exercise of health protocols, getting vaccinated when able, or supporting efforts to feed the hungry. We think of the welfare of others and not just of our own.
In doing so, we think less and less about what we can gain out of our believing, praying, and serving. But more and more about the goodness that we have first received from God and which the Lord invites us now to share freely and generously to others.
When we truly come to know Jesus and his unconditional love for each one of us, not as some abstract theological notion, but experienced as palpable as the embrace of a parent, heard as clear as the comforting words of a confidant, and felt as encouraging as the prayers of a friend, then we can bear fruit of a love that is nourishing and life-giving.
And so let us believe that we are God’s beloved and love as we have been loved by God. We are loved to love.