Acts 10:25-26, 34-35, 44-48; Ps. 98:1-4; 1 Jn. 4:07-10; Jn. 15:9-17
God is love and what a more perfect moment to recognize the great love of motherhood beginning with our Blessed Mother Mary who gave her fiat to bring us the child Jesus for the redemption of the world. May is the month of Mary and Mother’s Day is in May uniting the motherhood of all moms to the Blessed Mother’s love for her son. What an advocate for moms who share a special bond to Mary as a mother who carries her child in the womb knowing it is born out of love.
Close to the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem is a shrine called the Milk Grotto. It is more of a cave where according to tradition Mary and Joseph stayed on their way to Egypt. Mary nursed baby Jesus and a drop of Mary’s milk fell upon the stone and it turned white. In our pilgrimage to Bethlehem on the West Bank we stopped at the Milk Grotto and saw the white walls of the cave listened to the stories of miracles attributed to the Mary at the Grotto especially for women who were having trouble to conceive and became pregnant.
An iconic image of Mary breastfeeding Jesus is a reminder that from the breast of Mary’s milk Jesus fed dependent upon her humanity as an infant. It is also a reminder of St. Joseph the protector guardian of the Holy Family. Jesus continues to look to our humanity and his church to provide his people with the food of heaven in the Eucharist and the spirit of truth in his Word as a shield of protection against the gods of fear and deception in the cultural war against the values and practices of the faith. This is love in action.
In the first reading from Acts we see how the Word of God is love and those who receive the word receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. The Word is not a voice from heaven but the voice of his apostles as Peter says, “I myself am also a human being” who bring his Word to “every nation”. In this reading we see how the Word alone has power to bring to the Gentiles the gift of the Holy Spirit before baptism that is why we speak of being baptized in the spirit already as children of God for the Spirit rests where love of God abounds. God is love and baptism is the new circumcision of our hearts to give us the sign of God’s love remaining with us.
Love is the seed of God himself and when we nurture our love, we come closer to the truth that God exists to know him and love him. God has come into the world through his Son Jesus “as expiation for our sins” that we may receive a greater love, a more perfect love for one another. The gospel reading continues Jesus’ kerygma to remain in him by remaining in his love. This is the “how to” remain in him that it comes through love and love come through keeping the commandments. Thus, love is not an emotional sensation but a covenant with God the Father to stay true to his commandments as the visible sign of true love.
Jesus discourse now takes on a more perfect sign of the commandments from obedience to the law of the Father to the act of love for one another in serving each other as he loves us in coming to serve us. Jesus gave testimony of his love by healing, teaching, expelling demons, sanctifying the waters for baptism, and suffering his passion of love for us in death to self with the power to rise again. Are we ready to suffer for one another? The Apostles did just that and many suffered martyrdom giving completely of themselves to bring the good news of Jesus to the world. Jesus lets his disciples know “No one has greater love than this, to lay down one’s life for one’s friends” and in his divinity he joined our humanity to be one with us and calls us his “friends”. In Jesus, love rises from the dead victorious.
Jesus lets his disciples know he calls them friends because he has shared everything he has heard from the Father. Then Jesus gives a formula to the disciples and for us to follow, “whatever you ask the Father in my name he may give to you”. Jesus places himself as our intercessor to the Father so that when we pray, we are to pray “in the name of Jesus” so his sacrifice of redemption for our sins may also be united to our prayers and not have our sins stand in the way. Thus, when we unite our imperfect love to Jesus’ perfect love we are transformed into the light of heaven with the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.
Our prayers begin with the sign of the cross “In the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit” calling upon the Trinity. When our prayer becomes our “ask” let us do so by calling out “in the name of Jesus” for he calls us friends and carries our prayers to the Father. Then we can turn to our Blessed Mother who reminds us “do whatever he (Jesus) tells you”.
Jesus calls us “friends” and we can then turn this word into an acronym, F.R.I.E.N.D.S. to recognize God is love in his friendship with us.
“F” is for “Faithful” and Jesus is faithful. He is faithful to his promises and his covenant of love as he continues to suffer for our unfaithfulness when we choose sin over his love. A friend of others is a friend of Jesus as he calls us to love one another. We live in a time when we have lost sight of our neighbor and we can even become strangers to each other in our home.
“R” is for “Respect” and Jesus respects our free will. In his gentleness Jesus waits for our response to his love respecting the choice we make will ultimately make us into his friend or a stranger. Respect is a sign of love so children show respect to your parents but also parents show respect to your children given by God and belonging to God. We live in a time of extreme child abuse beginning with abortion, child trafficking, and sex slave trade.
“I” is for “Interested” and Jesus is interested in every thought and feeling and act we do. He knows our every hair meaning he knows us even better than we know ourselves. Jesus is interested in us spending time with him behind closed doors in silence, in prayer, in adoration. He wants us to be interested in him and to look at him as he looks on us, to contemplate him on the cross for all of his suffering and in the Eucharist for all of his glory. We live in a time of mass distraction beginning with the phone and the internet and silence is a lost art. Jesus comes in the silence of the moment.
“E” is for “Enjoy” and Jesus enjoys loving us as friends. Friendship is a joy to share when we become open and vulnerable to another by sharing our hopes, fears, dreams and love. In a world of finite time when we make time to enjoy our time together a moment becomes an infinite joy and memory to ponder. We live in a time where the cultural war creates division fostering what divides us rather than what unites us stealing our joy in being one family, one nation, one world to enjoy under God.
“N” is for “Nurture” and Jesus does nurture his friends with his love. Just as a mother is instinctively nurturing to an infant, we have forgotten how to nurture each other. Men can be a bit clumsy in their nurturing skills that is why it is said “a dog is man’s best friend” because it is hard to trust a man with a baby but we are getting better waiting for them to grow up and play rough. Nurturing comes with touch and we live in a time where fear is avoiding touch and social distancing is becoming the norm. Let us not be afraid that we were made for touch and let it begin with Jesus touching our hearts.
“D” is for “Dialogue” and Jesus speaks to us in dialogue through prayer, through fellowship, through his Word in scripture and through the quieting of our souls. It is tempting to say our prayers, rush through a rosary, and never stop to quiet our souls and listen for the voice of God to dialogue with us. How do we know when it is God speaking and not our own deceiving thoughts? Some will say God spoke to me and gave me a word of knowledge. What does this mean? It means that it we could not have arrived at it on our own but came through inspiration of the Holy Spirit as a confirmation of faith, hope, and love. We live in a time when the discourse of “dialogue” has been replaced by shouting, monologues, constant interruptions and demands for “safe spaces” where only those who share common views may enter. If we cannot listen to others how will we listen to Jesus?
“S” is for “Sacrifice” and Jesus made the ultimate sacrifice of a friend to give up his life for our salvation. Mother’s begin to give life to a child through the sacrifice of their body beginning with the early signs of “Morning” sickness learning to understand the needs of their child before a word is spoken. The motherhood of a Mother is sacrifice and support. Jesus is there to support us when we turn to him and when we offer up our sacrifice of love for a greater good. Often, we look for support everywhere or nowhere thinking we have to do it ourselves but have we allowed Jesus into our lives to be our support? Jesus is there when we call upon him, when we pray to the Father in the name of Jesus, when we look to support each other we invite Jesus into our relationships.
Now is the time to rise above a culture of death and bring back the culture of friendship through the love of Jesus. Now is the time to be friends through the sacrifice of love. He calls us “friends” are we his friend? Happy Mother’s Day Blessed Mother and to all Moms and grandmas! Let us offer a prayer of love for our mothers who made many a sacrifice for us and are one of the reasons we are here in Mass in in this world today. Happy Blessed day to all of Jesus’ friends.
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