Gospel reading: Jn 15:12-17
Jesus said to his disciples: “This is my commandment: love one another as I love you. No one has greater love than this, to lay down one’s life for one’s friends. You are my friends if you do what I command you. I 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. It 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. This I command you: love one another.”
REFLECTIONS
You are my friends
Jesus speaks these words to his disciples at the Passover meal. He calls them friends in the context of his command to love one another. As his friends, they know his words and his actions, for they are always with him. They have an insight into his mind and heart, because Jesus is transparent to them and does not withhold any teaching from them.
They are not slaves who do not know what their master is doing. So it must be easy for them to love one another.
Besides, Jesus will pay a huge price for his friendship to them: he will lay down his life for them without condition.
It is a great honor for the disciples to be considered friends by Jesus, but at the same time it can be terrifying.
As his friends, they have the responsibility to take care of one another. They must support one another in their mission to go forth and bear fruit in God’s name. They are commissioned by Jesus to evangelize because they have been evangelized with close supervision. They are his best witnesses.
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How do you regard yourself before Jesus?
If you meet with Jesus in his word and sacrament, you are a friend of Jesus and ready to be sent.
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SOURCE: “365 Days with the Lord,” ST PAULS, 7708 St. Paul Rd., SAV, Makati City (Phils.); Tel.: 895-9701; Fax 895-7328; E-mail: [email protected]; Website: http://www.stpauls.ph.
