May 22, 2022 – Sixth Sunday of Easter
Readings of the day: Acts 15:1-2, 22-29 / Revelation 21:10-14, 22-23 / John 14:23-29
The following is the homily I will be delivering this morning at St. Pius X Parish in Indianapolis:
In one sentence from the Gospel of John, Jesus shared all we need to know about living a fruitful life and attaining heaven. We heard the following: “Whoever loves me will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our dwelling with him.”
As for living a fruitful life – first, we are directed to love Jesus. Second, we must keep his word. What is his word? We hear it several times in the Gospel of John: Love one another. Jesus doesn’t simply encourage loving one another, the gospel says he “commands” us to love one another.
So, if we love Jesus and we love one another, God will provide a dwelling place for us in heaven.
While this may sound simple and straightforward, it’s important that we understand the love to which we are being called.
The word love is found in the Gospel of John 57 times. It is sometimes referred to as the “gospel of love.”
Our everyday vocabulary is saturated with the word love. Each of us likely say the word a dozen or more times per day.
Continue reading