Today is the fifth Sunday of Easter Year C, from the Gospel reading of today Jesus presents to us one of the criteria that is necessary for a disciple of his and today he says it is love, love of one another. He gives us a commandment that we should love one another as he has loved us. And our ability to love each other will bring forth what we see in the in the second reading of today from the book of revelation. We are told about a new earth and a new beginning and a time when there would be peace, a time when there would be love, a time when there would be justice, a time when there would be objectivity and the blessings of God in a very unique way.
That is why my brothers and sisters, taking into consideration the commandments that God presents to us in the Gospel in the person of Jesus Christ today, we are all enjoined, we are all invited to work in accordance with this commandments given to us by God himself. Because it is our duty as Disciples of Christ, as children of Christ, as people who believe in the resurrection to bring forth this new heaven and new earth that is talked about from today’s second reading and for us to realize that we must be people of love, we must be people whose life is governed by love. Our daily activities are governed by Gods love, the things we do is out of love. It is not out of hatred, out of bitterness, out of jealousy and envy.
It is simply out of the love of God. And that is why the gospel reading says today that it is the practice of this love that will show that we are true Disciples of Christ. And that brings me to an important question today my brothers and sisters, are you a disciple of Christ, what drives you, is it the love of God or personal interest, today we are all encouraged to embrace this wonderful criterion that Jesus has presented to us, the love of God, love of one another where there is love, hatred and bitterness vanishes, where there is love there is bound to be growth, where there is love the blessings of God abounds.
My brothers and sisters, we are all invited in a very special way to begin to practice this wonderful love that will bring forth a new heaven and new earth even in our own time. It is possible to begin to live it out in our lives. It is possible for us to become a sign of contradiction in the world in which we live today. A world that practices often times so much hatred, bitterness, and rancor. We are called to become that challenge, we are called to become that light that will shine forth and dispel darkness. As children of God, the love of God and the love of neighbor will dispel the darkness in our paths and that is why from today’s first reading from the attitude, the action of Paul and Barnabas we see a people of life, people bringing forth liberation for those they preached with or they preached to. People bringing forth liberation and setting the people free and showing them the path and also leaving out the path they show them, that is what we are called to do, that is what we are called to live out on this fifth Sunday of Easter my brothers and sisters. A life that will bring the desired change that we need in our world today as disciples of Christ our lives should become a sign to teach those who do not know God but then if we begin to live like those who do not know God it becomes very difficult, it becomes a contradiction to what we represent, what we stand for. that is why we must continually beg for the grace of God so that we can corporate with his grace and become a true sign in the world, a sign that will bring forth light, a sign that we bring forth the desired change that will bring about a new heaven and a new earth and things will begin to change for better.
We are all called as of God my brothers and sisters to strive after this way of life that is built on God’s love and the love of neighbor , where there is God’s love it becomes very easy for us to do away with evil , it becomes very easy for us to do away with sin . It all depends on us. Are we willing to corporate with the graces of God , are we willing to live out injunctions as true disciples , as true children of God so that the blessings of God will abound in our lives , blessings of God will abound in our families. We pray on this fifth Sunday of Easter that God will grant us the necessary graces we need and the strength to corporate with his graces to be true disciples of his.
Peace be with you, Amen.