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Unconditional, Unending Love
Today is Thursday of the 5th week of the Easter Season. The Easter Season is quickly coming to a close. Soon, Jesus will not be appearing to the disciples as he has, comforting and instructing them. Thursday is Ascension Thursday (May 26) which we will celebrate at Mass on Wednesday at 11am) signaling the end of the Easter season. Pentecost is May 29, when She comes!
Today the reading is John 15: 9-11. “As my Abba has loved me, so have I loved you. Live on in my love. And you will live on in my love if you keep my commandments, just as I live on in Abba God’s love and have kept God’s commandments. I tell you all this that my joy may be yours, and your joy may be complete.”
When I was younger, I thought that God would give me this Ancient Love, that I really didn’t have to understand it; it would just happen. Now I know better; unconditional love is always available to me yet seems so beyond me to give. Yest, even in my failing, I am comforted by the experience of Love within.
The Spirit is always guiding us to Love. Consider that ‘As my Abba has loved me…” draws us back into an unfathomable, inexplicable time, a time outside of imagination where there is no time, when the Ancient One was only Love. Yet, we are called to live this, The Way of Jesus: We are committed Christians.
When Pope Francis’ words, “Wanting to go backward the way things were in the past is not Christian…There is a difference between wanting to go back in time and drawing inspiration from one’s roots in order to move forward with Christ,” resonated with us at the Annual Meeting, it seemed additional affirmation that we are pilgrims, steadfast in our efforts to follow the Ancient One, who shows itself to us in the person of Jesus, and continues to inspire us through the Holy Spirit. At this moment, each of us is awake and aware as best we can to the workings of the Spirit.
We rejoice and suffer with our world, as in the Body of Christ; we respond to our community’s personal and corporate needs; we bring forth “fruit” from the vine; we respond when we hear needs outside our community; we are happy to provide comfort and care.
Jesus told his disciples: “I tell you this that my joy may be yours, and your joy may be complete” (Jn 15:11). We are invited to sing Long Before the Night (The Ancient One) by Carolyn McDade on guitar or The Ancient One updated by Ted Dunn with visuals. Love cannot be contained; it is in a continuous and increasing flow. Let us continue to be awake.
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