Ten Plus Two

Jesus said to his disciples:
“If you love me, you will keep my commandments.
And I will ask the Father,
and he will give you another Advocate to be with you always,
the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot accept,
because it neither sees nor knows him.
But you know him, because he remains with you,
and will be in you.
I will not leave you orphans; I will come to you.
In a little while the world will no longer see me,
but you will see me, because I live and you will live.
On that day you will realize that I am in my Father
and you are in me and I in you.
Whoever has my commandments and observes them
is the one who loves me.
And whoever loves me will be loved by my Father,
and I will love him and reveal myself to him.”
John 14:15-21 (NAB)

Prayer Reflection

Dear Father we all would love to have the Advocate as part of us, better known as the Holy Spirit. In this regard he is the Spirit of Truth. We all seem to put this aside many times because our human nature cannot handle this type of Truth. Thinking on how we deal with others each day, do we employ honesty and truth. Do we see God and Jesus in each other? Do we love God first and our neighbor? So many questions, yet simple answers. The two commandments Jesus gave us. It's all about love, when we truly love the way these two commandments speak, we will have the Spirit of Truth and see Jesus when he reveals himself to us.

Remain In His Love

Jesus said to his disciples:
“As the Father loves me, so I also love you.
Remain in my love.
If you keep my commandments, you will remain in my love,
just as I have kept my Father’s commandments
and remain in his love.

“I have told you this so that
my joy might be in you and
your joy might be complete.”
John 15:9-11 (NAB)

Prayer Reflection

Dear Father we all know the happiness of being in love. The joy that we have is truly something special. It's quite a blessing to have love in our lives. It's even more so when we have it in you. Love is the greatest commandment and one that we break constantly. We break the hearts of those we say we love when we fall away and seek love elsewhere, not just in the physical sense but from our hearts. Many a times we declare undying love to them, only to end up not long after ending that love. Yet you dear Father love us unconditionaly, you don't do the fickle thing that we do. We've lost the sense of loyalty in each other, but you are loyal, steadfast and true. Why is it then that the one thing that Jesus asks of us to do is the hardest one of all. To love you as Jesus loves you and to love Jesus as you love him.

Fifth Sunday of Easter

When Judas had left them, Jesus said,
“Now is the Son of Man glorified, and God is glorified in him.
If God is glorified in him,
God will also glorify him in himself,
and God will glorify him at once.
My children, I will be with you only a little while longer.
I give you a new commandment: love one another.
As I have loved you, so you also should love one another.
This is how all will know that you are my disciples,
if you have love for one another.”
John 13:31-33a, 34-35

Dear Father loving one another is how we will know we are your disciples. It's that simple isn't it. But for many of us so very hard to do. We have so many things that stop us from being your disciples, such as prejudice toward each other, not just in race and color, but in how we live. If someone has more or less we are prejudiced against them. We are all children of faith, not all are of the same but we do believe, yet we do not always practice what Jesus taught us, to love one another as he loved us. But all too often we are selective in whom we love as a neighbor. May we dear Father love those we come across on a daily basis and not look at them with disgust but with love in our eyes, may we glorify you in this way. Love those as Jesus loves them always. Amen