PENTECOST TRIDUUM - ONE IN LOVE (TALK 2 OF 3)
17 May 2018 Thursday
Sharing my notes taken @ Church of the Holy Family
Homily by Rev Fr Peter Wee, CSsR
Pentecost Triduum
ONE IN FAITH, LOVE AND SERVICE
Day 2 - United in the Bond of Love
(I) JESUS’ LOVE
Love comes in different shades
To truly love, we must go beyond our human endeavour, because our love is imperfect, shaded with fear, jealousy, envy…
Even in the most loving couple, we can detect shades of these imperfections.
And if we are not careful, we can fall out of love.
So how can we achieve the kind of love that is lasting and efficacious, love that is able to uplift others?
John 15:12 "This is My commandment, that you love one another, just as I have loved you.
The only way is to love the way Jesus loves.
The way Jesus loves is demanding
To love the way Jesus loves is demanding.
It is to go against the grain of nature, to go against self importance, self preservation, self righteousness….it means giving of oneself.
Jesus urges us to get out of our natural order, to grow in Him, and only then can we love the way He loves.
It is a mutual, unconditional, sacrificial love
John 15:9 I have loved you as my Father has loved me
It is a mutual love that cannot be described fully, cannot be comprehended fully.
It is a love that is unconditional, to laying down one’s life to do the will of the Father.
It is a total giving of oneself to the other.
It is the way God loves. It means to be willing to suffer.
(II) GETTING TO KNOW JESUS
To love the way Jesus loves, we need to get to know Him.
Jesus wanted His disciples to know Him. He went out of His way to do so, like washing their feet, to show His way of loving.
In order to love like Jesus, we need to be close to Him, to have an intimate relationship with Him.
We need to get to the heart of Jesus.
Getting to the heart of Jesus was how the disciples changed and were empowered to carry out the mission of Jesus.
(III) GETTING TO THE HEART OF JESUS
Peter was close to Jesus - he lived with Jesus, ate with Him, walked with Him, heard Him preach etc.
He knew Jesus well, but only on the outside.
Jesus wanted His disciples to know Him deep.
And Peter had to learn to go deeper into the heart of Jesus, so much so that it would cost pride, his security, his safety, to come out of his shortcomings, his failings….
It was only after he learnt to get into the heart of Jesus that he began to change.
And he changed gradually, bit by bit, letting go of more and more, putting on Jesus’ love more and more.
We too, need to get to the heart of Jesus.
(IV) BECOMING ALIGNED WITH THE HEART OF JESUS
Only when Saul became Paul did he changed.
Letting go of Saul’s whole sinful self, letting go of Saul's imperfections and incompleteness gradually, bit by bit, and became the great defender and champion of the early Church.
Because he came to know Jesus more and more, his character and attitude transformed to be more like Him.
His heart became more aligned with Jesus’ heart. The truth of Jesus became a reality for him.
He was then able to love like Jesus loves.
We too, need to be transformed and be aligned to Jesus' heart.
(V) WILLINGNESS TO CHANGE
How do we respond to God who is calling us to love one another?
We cannot do so by our own effort. We have to factor Jesus into the equation.
We need to get to the heart of Jesus, to get to know Him and love Him; and to depend on His grace.
Then we need to be willing to change.
And to put in effort to change.
Only when we are willing to change can we begin to love others the way Jesus loves.
(VI) REMAINING IN HIS LOVE
We need not only to know Jesus, to love Him, to be willing to change….we need also to remain in Him.
John 15:10 "If you keep My commandments, you will abide in My love; just as I have kept My Father's commandments and abide in His love.
By keeping His commandments, we remain in Jesus’ heart and in His love.
And only by remaining in His love can loving each other truly be a reality.
May the Lord give us the blessing respond to His invitation of love, to change…
- END OF NOTES -
Lastly, sharing a lovely piece of writing from Henri Nouwen….
"The love with which we lived our lives
is the life of God within us.
It is the divine,
indestructible core
of our being.
This love not only will remain
but will also bear fruit
from generation to generation.”
Henri Nouwen
Links to notes of all three days of the Triduum:
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