5th Sunday of Easter, Cycle C - May 18, 2025

 Fifth Sunday of Easter – C

May 18, 2025           5pm

Our Lady of Grace Parish, Parkton

“Love one another”

Today’s Gospel brings us into the Upper Room, just after Judas has departed to betray Jesus. 

The mood is heavy. The disciples do not yet grasp what is unfolding. 

And it is in this moment—this intimate, quiet moment between Jesus and His closest followers—in this moment He gives a new commandment: “Love one another. As I have loved you, so you also should love one another.”

This is not merely a suggestion. It is not just a moral ideal.

 

It is a commandment. And not just any commandment— Jesus says it is a “new” one. 

 

“As I have loved you”

 

In the Old Testament, the people of God were already told to “love your neighbor as yourself”(Leviticus 19:18). 

 

So, why does Jesus say, “I give you a new commandment”? What makes this “new”?

It is new in its measure: “As I have loved you.” Jesus doesn’t call us to love according to our own strength, our own convenience, or our own preferences. 

Instead, He calls us to love as He loved. Completely. Sacrificially. Humbly. Unconditionally.

Let’s remember where Jesus is when He gives us this commandment: at the Last Supper, only hours before His crucifixion. He has just washed His disciples’ feet—a task normally reserved for the lowliest servant. 

He knows that Peter will deny Him. He knows the others will flee.

He knows that Judas has just gone to betray Him. And still, His final instruction to them is: love each other with the same love I’ve shown you.

This is a love that even endures rejection, that serves even in suffering, that forgives even in betrayal, that is willing even to die. This is the newness in his commandment: to love “as I have loved you.”

“This is how all will know”

 

And then Jesus adds this: “This is how all will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.”

In our world today, we Christians are sometimes known for our doctrines, our traditions, even our debates. But Jesus tells us that the true sign of discipleship is love: as he has loved us.

1. Love Begins at Home

The first place to live out this commandment is at home. 

Love must begin with our families—between spouses, between parents and children, between siblings. And this can be one of the most difficult places to practice this.

Because in our families, we are fully seen. Our flaws, our weaknesses, and our wounds all get exposed. 

And yet, this is the first place where love must shine. When we listen and try to understand, when we forgive for a past hurt, when we are patient with idiosyncrasies – then we are doing as Jesus calls us to do. 

So, let’s take time this week to ask ourselves: Is there some way that I need to love someone in my family better? Let’s begin there. 

 

2. Love Beyond Our Comfort Zone

 

And then, we need to love those outside our comfort zone. 

It’s easy to love those who are like us or think like us or treat us well. But what about those who disagree with us or are different from us on politics or religion or lifestyle? 

Jesus loved the leper, the marginalized, the sinner, the stranger, even his opponents. So, let’s look around. 

Is there someone with whom we are uncomfortable but is in some kind of need? As Catholics, as Christians, we must be known not for exclusion or judgment, but for loving as Christ has loved us, even going beyond our comfort zone. 

Conclusion

So, Jesus’ new commandment is not just about feelings; it is a decision, a choice we make. 

And it is by this love—by loving as he has loved, that the world will recognize Christ in us and know that we are Christians or Catholics. Today let’s renew our commitment to this, both at home and beyond our comfort zone. 

4th Sunday of Easter, Cycle C - May 11, 2025

 4^th Sunday of Easter – C 

May 11, 2025    8:30am

Our Lady of Grace Parish, Parkton  

 

The Beloved Lamb

 

There is an old story about two men who were living in the same small town.

 

The one man was very rich and powerful; the other was very poor and powerless. The rich man owned so many sheep that he lost count of them, but the poor man had only one, tiny lamb.  

 

The poor man’s children loved this little lamb so much that they treated it like a member of the family. They played with it and even brought it to the dinner table to share the little food they had.  

 

Then one day an important visitor came to the rich man’s house for dinner. The rich man wanted to serve a special meal, but he didn’t want to kill any of his own lambs to feed the guest.  

 

So, he had his servants go over to the poor man’s house, take that family’s only lamb, and prepare it for dinner. Now, the prophet Nathan tells this story in the Old Testament.  

 

This story of the beloved lamb could have been one of the images that John had in mind in today’s second reading. Jesus is like the one beloved lamb of that poor family. 

 

Jesus is God’s beloved Son, and he is unjustly put to death. He is the beloved Lamb. 

 

The Sacrificial Lamb 

 

Now besides this, there is a second image that John could have had in mind in the passage from Revelation. 

 

This is the image of the lambs that were sacrificed every day in the Temple. These lambs were seen as sacrifices to atone for sin. 

 

John sees Jesus as something like those sacrificial lambs because he sacrifices himself for our sins. But he is also unlike those lambs because he is the sacrifice that once and for all time brings us reconciliation with God.

 

The Victorious Lamb 

 

Finally, John clearly has a third image in mind in today’s passage. 

 

This is the victorious Lamb. John describes his vision of a Lamb on a heavenly throne with people from all over the earth giving him honor.

 

The idea is that Jesus is the Lamb of God who suffered, died, and then rose from the dead. This is why he now receives honor and praise as the victorious Lamb.  

 

The Lamb of God for Us

 

So, John, in this passage from the Book of Revelation, uses the word Lamb three times.

 

I suggest that he has these three images in mind about Jesus. Before we receive communion here at Mass, we sing three times: “Lamb of God, who takes away the sins of the world.”

 

Let’s remember these three images as we sing these acclamations.

 

First, the image of the one beloved lamb. Here we praise Jesus as the beloved Son and Lamb of God.

 

And we can also recall that we ourselves are beloved. Each of us is a beloved daughter or son of God.  

 

Then second, the image of the sacrificial lamb. Here we praise Jesus for the sacrifice of himself for us. 

 

And we can also recall that we are to be sacrificial. Our sacrifice is probably in our everyday life as we let go of some preferences or comforts for the well-being of family or others. 

  

And finally, the image of the victorious Lamb in heaven. Here we praise Jesus who has risen and returned to the Father.

 

And we can also recall that we too have the promise and hope of heaven. That victory over death will be ours through the beloved, the sacrificial, and the victorious Lamb – who is Jesus.  

3rd Sunday of Easter, Cycle C - May 4, 2025

 Third Sunday of Easter – C 

May 4, 2025    5pm 

Our Lady of Grace Parish, Parkton       

 

World Central Kitchen 

 

Back in 2010, there was a devastating earthquake in Haiti.

 

Maybe some of us can still remember the news reports of this and the humanitarian crisis that followed. In response to this, a Spanish American named Jose Andres and his wife Patricia went into action.

 

Jose Andres was a chef and a restaurant owner. He began what is called World Central Kitchen.

 

The purpose of this organization is to provide food in areas devastated by war or by natural disasters, like earthquakes. World Central Kitchen has thousands of volunteers.  

 

For example, within hours of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, they were at work. They were eventually serving 35,000 meals a day in Ukraine and other Eastern European countries. 

 

They set up food centers in shelters and train stations and places like that. Over these past fifteen years, World Central Kitchen has helped in many countries, like Israel, Palestine, Turkey, and Australia.

 

And they have helped here in the United States – in Florida after the major hurricane, in Los Angelos during the wildfires, and during the Covid pandemic providing food to millions of people. It is worth listening to a few words from Jose Andres.

 

He says: “World Central Kitchen started with a simple idea at home with my wife Patricia. When people are hungry, send in cooks.

 

“Everyone knows that food is central to life. Food is even more essential in a crisis.

 

“You see, food relief is not just a meal that keeps hunger away. It’s a plate of hope.

 

“It tells you in your darkest hour that someone, somewhere cares about you. This is the real meaning of comfort food.

 

“And after a disaster, food is the fastest way to rebuild our sense of community. Cooking and eating together is what makes us human.”        

 

So, life – hope – and community – just hold on to those three words of Jose Andres and I will come back to them in a minute. 

 

Jesus Gives Food

 

I am led to think about World Central Kitchen by today’s gospel.

 

This is the third appearance of the Risen Jesus to the apostles in John’s gospel. The Risen Jesus has cooked some fish and bread and invites the apostles to eat.

 

Some of the wording in this passage is almost identical to the wording used at the last Supper. “Jesus took the bread and gave it to them.”   

 

The idea is that this incident is a way for Jesus to remind them of the food he gave at the Last Supper. There, the bread and wine become Jesus – his body and blood. 

 

What This Food Does

 

And this food, the Eucharist, does things for us that are similar to what the food of World Central Kitchen does. 

 

First, the sacrament of the Eucharist gives us life. And the life it gives is Jesus’ life, God’s life.

 

We are brought into this life first at baptism. And now, the food of Jesus’ body and blood nourishes and strengthens this life.

 

Second, this sacrament gives us hope. It is Jesus himself here with us, within us.

 

That is what we mean by Holy Communion. It tells us that no matter what happens, Jesus, God is with us, including times when we feel guilty or alone or disappointed or hurt or whatever – Jesus is with us giving us hope for today and tomorrow.

 

And third, this sacrament brings us together as a community. It makes us one with one another.

 

It is Communion with a capital C – Communion with Jesus or God – and also communion with a small c – communion with one another. It draws us into a community and helps us to realize our oneness with all God’s people.

 

Conclusion

 

So, life, hope, and community – these are the effects of the food of the Eucharist. 

 

This is why it is good for us to be here and to receive this sacred food. This is why Sunday Mass has been a trademark of Catholicism. 

 

Today let’s renew our resolve to be here each week for this food – Jesus’ body and blood.