Study:  Consider a moment when you felt unconditional love.  How did you react?

Pray:  Are there people in your life who are hard to love?  Ask the Lord to soften your heart, and place in you the desire to want to love them.

Serve: Love is expressed in many ways.  How can you share the Love of Christ with others today?

5th Sunday of Easter Readings

Let’s start with a quick overview of this week’s readings:

• 1st Reading – Paul & Barnabas are fostering the Church among the Gentiles
• Psalm – “I will praise your name forever, my king and my God.”
• 2nd Reading – John’s vision of a new heaven and a new earth
• Gospel – Jesus commands his disciples to love one another

The Easter season proclaims the Lord’s triumph over sin and death, and inspires us to fix our eyes on Heaven as our destination and goal.  United together with the Lord, we understand that we are pilgrims passing through this world – and our words and actions have power and consequence.

Think about it.  The Lord commands us to love.  This is not some pleasant suggestion or good-idea-if-you-have-time-to-fit-it-in…this command is our call to action: Love flows from the heart of Heaven, and in our Love on earth we practice for the day when we will stand before the Author of Love itself.

And lest we get caught up in some sort of warm fuzzy feeling about Love, we know that this command is hard to carry out!  Love demands our forgiveness, patience, mercy, gentleness, peace, and understanding.  Simply put, we are called to Love as Christ loves us – by laying down our lives for one another.

Love, then, is not only a principal condition for Heaven, but for the Church on earth as well.  Nothing reveals our sincerity and authenticity as Christians more fully than when Love shines through our words and actions.

Our goal is Heaven, and while here on earth the Church follows the example of Christ – loving God and one another.  May others see the Lord’s Love in our lives today!