The Vine and the Branches
http://graceandspace.org
Jn 15:9-17
[Jesus said to his disciples,] 9“As the Father loves me, so I also love you. Remain in my love. 10If you keep my commandments, you will remain in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commandments and remain in his love.
11“I have told you this so that my joy might be in you and your joy might be complete.
12This is my commandment: love one another as I love you. 13No one has greater love than this, to lay down one’s life for one’s friends. 14You are my friends if you do what I command you. 15I
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. 16It 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. 17This I command you: love one another.”
Reflection:
As the Father loves me, so I also love you.
Jesus assures his disciples of his love and exhorts them to remain in
his love. He tells them this so that his joy may be in them, and their
joy may be complete.
The
joy of the disciples, however, will be complete only if they love one
another as Christ has loved them, if they continue to circulate to each
other the love of Jesus which they have received.
The
love of Jesus for his disciples is the love of a friend. Friendship is
mutual and manifest love. Jesus manifests his love by laying down his
life for his disciples. He wants us also to love each other as friends,
willing to lay down our life for each other. This is the Church—the
community of Jesus’ friends.
Is your family, basic ecclesial community,
or parish a community of friends?
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