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Receiving God’s Love and Giving it to Others

Sunday, May 28, 2006
Seventh Sunday of Easter
Acts 1:15-17,20-26
Psalm 103:1-2,11-12,19-20
1 John 4:11-16
John 17:11-19

Click here for readings  (For quick review only; bring your Bible)

Recently married couples often turn into matchmakers on behalf of their friends. The newlyweds find life together so fulfilling that they want everyone to enjoy the same unity. Secure in each other’s unconditional love, they wish the same joyful anchor for others.

Jesus’ well-known prayer for unity among his followers sprang from a similar reality. He asked his Father “that they may be one, as we are one” (John 17:11). Jesus wanted everyone to experience the same kind of unity that came from his own mutual love for the Father.

This love is not exclusive. A newlywed wants each friend to find a lover like his or her own new spouse but is, of course, unwilling to share that spouse. Our divine Lover, however, can enter into an intimate relationship with every human being without being unfaithful to any other. And what’s more, intimate union with him makes all who love him into lovers of each other.

Consider a family of thirteen children who recently buried their mother. This woman was never too busy to welcome one more child into her home, not only those who were born into her family but the friends they frequently brought home. No one felt shortchanged when their mother reached out to someone new; there was plenty of love to go around!

God, too, has room in his heart and at his table for many more children. He is the perfect spouse, the answer to everyone’s deepest longings. So how diligently are we scouring the highways and byways for new guests? How eagerly do we present the “match made in heaven”? How warmly do we welcome those Jesus is drawing into his family? Are we willing to let them linger among us long enough to taste the love that Jesus has given us—a love that keeps reaching out to others?

“Jesus, you have drawn me into your intimate union with the Father and the Spirit. Open my eyes to those around me whom you now want to draw into the same life-changing fellowship of love.”

1. In the first reading, we find the Apostles praying to the Lord to help them choose another to take Judas' place and be an Apostle and witness. Do you believe that you too have been chosen by God to be his witness? Why or why not?
2. In the Responsorial Psalm, we bless the Lord for his benefits, kindness, and forgiveness. If someone were to ask you for examples of the Lord’s benefits, kindness, and forgiveness in your life, how would you answer?
3. In the second reading, St. John says, “We have come to know and to believe in the love God has for us.” How does this knowledge and belief enable you to respond to difficult situations during the day and in your life?
4. The Gospel begins with Jesus praying that we would be one, so that the world would know that he was sent by God the Father. Vatican II said that God chose to save us as a people. To what extent, do you see your men’s group as an integral part of the people of God, the body of Christ? How can your group demonstrate this for others in your parish? In you community?
5. Also, in the Gospel, Jesus tells the Father that he sends us “into the world” just as he was sent into the world. St. Paul says in 2 Corinthians that we are to be “apostles of reconciliation.” In what way can you work to bring Christ's reconciliation to your family? To others? Is there someone in your life that you need to forgive, so that you can be reconciled with him/her?
6. The prayer at the end of the meditation is a beautiful prayer to experience a more intimate union with the Father and the Spirit, and to bring the Father’s love to others. Take some time to pray this prayer at the end of your meeting. Also ask the Lord to reveal to you and the other men those whom you can tell of the Father’s great love for them.

Come Holy Spirit!  ~  Come Holy Spirit, fill the hearts of your faithful, and en kindle in them the fire of your love. Send forth your spirit and they are created, and you renew the face of the earth. Let us pray: O God, you taught the hearts of your faithful by sending them the light of your Holy Spirit. In that same spirit give us your right judgment and the joy of your consolation. We ask this through Christ our Lord. Amen

Prayer to St. Joseph  ~  Glorious St. Joseph, guide and protector of the Holy Family, we ask that you obtain for us from your son, Jesus, the strength and wisdom to lead our families to their Father in heaven. Most Chaste spouse of the Blessed Virgin Mary, may we imitate your obedience to the will of God and be ever mindful of the vocation to which we have been called. Amen