Reflection for Friday May 23 of the Fifth Week of Easter: John 15:12-17

Gospel: John 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.”

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Reflection:

What would happen if we follow this love commandment of Jesus? 

There would be no more betrayal, hatred, or separation among married couples—only love. But the sad reality is, we often choose to turn a deaf ear to this commandment of the Lord. Why? For the simple reason that we love ourselves more than we love Jesus and our fellowmen. 

There’s a saying that before we can give love, we must first love ourselves. After all, how can we know how to give love if we haven’t experienced loving ourselves first? However, this idea does not align with how Jesus defines love or how He gives the purest meaning of it. 

For Jesus, to love is not to love oneself first. To love is to lay down one’s life for the beloved. To love, in the way of Jesus, is to forgive the many hurts that have been hurled at us and inflicted upon us by those we hold dear. In the end, if we love as Jesus loves us, what will remain is love—no hatred, only love. 

But how do we love? Sadly, we often love selectively and with conditions. We measure the love we give by the love we receive. And many times, we fail to love others when they do not meet our selfish expectations. 

Let us love without condition, and let us love without expecting anything in return—for this is how Jesus loved us. 

How do you love? – Marino J. Dasmarinas