From: John 15:9-17

The Vine and the Branches (Continuation)

(Jesus said to His disciples,) [9] “As the Father has loved Me, so have I loved
you; abide in My love. [10] If you keep My commandments, you will abide in My
love, just as I have kept My Father’s commandments and abide in His love. [11]
These things I have spoken to you, that My joy may be in you, and that your joy
may be full.

The Law of Love

[12] “This is My commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you.
[13] Greater love has no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.
[14] You are My friends if you do what I command you. [15] No longer do I call
you servants, for the servant does not know what his master is doing; but I have
called you friends, for all that I have heard from My Father I have made known to
you. [16] You did not choose Me, but I chose you and appointed you that you
should go and bear fruit and that your fruit should abide; so that whatever you
ask the Father in My name, He may give it to you. [17] This I command you, to
love one another.”

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Commentary:

9-11. Christ’s love for Christians is a reflection of the love the Three Divine Per-
sons have for one another and for all men: “We love, because He first loved us”
(1 John 4:19).

The certainty that God loves us is the source of Christian joy (verse 11), but it is
also something which calls for a fruitful response on our part, which should take
the form of a fervent desire to do God’s will in everything, that is, to keep His com-
mandments, in imitation of Jesus Christ, who did the will of His Father (cf. John
4:34).

12-15. Jesus insists on the “new commandment”, which He Himself keeps by
giving His life for us. See note on John 13:34-35.

Christ’s friendship with the Christian, which our Lord expresses in a very special
way in this passage, is something very evident in St. Escriva’s preaching: “The
life of the Christian who decides to behave in accordance with the greatness of
his vocation is so to speak a prolonged echo of those words of our Lord, ‘No lon-
ger do I call you My servants; a servant is one who does not understand what his
master is about, whereas I have made known to you all that My Father has told
Me; and so I have called you My friends’ (John 15:15). When we decide to be do-
cile and follow the will of God, hitherto unimagined horizons open up before us....
‘There is nothing better than to recognize that Love has made us slaves of God.
From the moment we recognize this we cease being slaves and become friends,
sons’ (St. J. Escriva, “Friends of God”, 35).

“Sons of God, friends of God.... Jesus is truly God and truly Man, He is our Bro-
ther and our Friend. If we make the effort to get to know Him well ‘we will share
in the joy of being God’s friends’ [”ibid.”, 300]. If we do all we can to keep Him
company, from Bethlehem to Calvary, sharing His joys and sufferings, we will
become worthy of entering into loving conversation with Him. As the Liturgy of
the Hours sings, “calicem Domini biberunt, et amici Dei facti sunt” (they drank
the chalice of the Lord and so became friends of God).

“Being His children and His friends are two inseparable realities for those who
love God. We go to Him as children, carrying on a trusting dialogue that should
fill the whole of our lives; and we go to Him as friends.... In the same way our
divine sonship urges us to translate the overflow of our interior life into apostolic
activity, just as our friendship with God leads us to place ourselves at ‘the ser-
vice of all men. We are called to use the gifts God has given us as instruments
to help others discover Christ’ [”ibid.”, 258]” (Monsignor A. del Portillo in his pre-
face to St. J. Escriva’s, “Friends of God”).

16. There are three ideas contained in these words of our Lord. One, that the
calling which the Apostles received and which every Christian also receives does
not originate in the individual’s good desires but in Christ’s free choice. It was not
the Apostles who chose the Lord as Master, in the way someone would go about
choosing a rabbi; it was Christ who chose them. The second idea is that the
Apostles’ mission and the mission of every Christian is to follow Christ, to seek
holiness and to contribute to the spread of the Gospel. The third teaching refers
to the effectiveness of prayer done in the name of Christ; which is why the Church
usually ends the prayers of the liturgy with the invocation “Through Jesus Christ
our Lord...”.

The three ideas are all interconnected: prayer is necessary if the Christian life is
to prove fruitful, for it is God who gives the growth (cf. 1 Corinthians 3:7); and the
obligation to seek holiness and to be apostolic derives from the fact that it is
Christ Himself who has given us this mission. “Bear in mind, son, that you are
not just a soul who has joined other souls in order to do a good thing.

“That is a lot, but it’s still little. You are the Apostle who is carrying out an im-
perative command from Christ” (St. J. Escriva, “The Way”, 942).

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Source: “The Navarre Bible: Text and Commentaries”. Biblical text from the
Revised Standard Version and New Vulgate. Commentaries by members of
the Faculty of Theology, University of Navarre, Spain.

Published by Four Courts Press, Kill Lane, Blackrock, Co. Dublin, Ireland, and
by Scepter Publishers in the United States.

Mass Readings

If the Ascension of the Lord is going to be celebrated next Sunday, the alternative Second Reading and Gospel shown here (which would otherwise have been read on that Sunday) may be used today.

First reading	Acts 10:25-26,34-35,44-48 ©

As Peter reached the house Cornelius went out to meet him, knelt at his feet and prostrated himself. But Peter helped him up. ‘Stand up,’ he said ‘I am only a man after all!’ Then Peter addressed them: ‘The truth I have now come to realise’ he said ‘is that God does not have favourites, but that anybody of any nationality who fears God and does what is right is acceptable to him.’

While Peter was still speaking the Holy Spirit came down on all the listeners. Jewish believers who had accompanied Peter were all astonished that the gift of the Holy Spirit should be poured out on the pagans too, since they could hear them speaking strange languages and proclaiming the greatness of God. Peter himself then said, ‘Could anyone refuse the water of baptism to these people, now they have received the Holy Spirit just as much as we have?’ He then gave orders for them to be baptised in the name of Jesus Christ. Afterwards they begged him to stay on for some days.

Psalm	Psalm 97:1-4 ©

The Lord has shown his salvation to the nations.

Alleluia!

Sing a new song to the Lord

for he has worked wonders.

His right hand and his holy arm

have brought salvation.

The Lord has shown his salvation to the nations.

Alleluia!

The Lord has made known his salvation;

has shown his justice to the nations.

He has remembered his truth and love

for the house of Israel.

The Lord has shown his salvation to the nations.

Alleluia!

All the ends of the earth have seen

the salvation of our God.

Shout to the Lord, all the earth,

ring out your joy.

The Lord has shown his salvation to the nations.

Alleluia!

Second reading	1 John 4:7-10 ©

My dear people,

let us love one another

since love comes from God

and everyone who loves is begotten by God and knows God.

Anyone who fails to love can never have known God,

because God is love.

God’s love for us was revealed

when God sent into the world his only Son

so that we could have life through him;

this is the love I mean:

not our love for God,

but God’s love for us when he sent his Son

to be the sacrifice that takes our sins away.

Second reading	1 John 4:11-16 ©

My dear people,

since God has loved us so much,

we too should love one another.

No one has ever seen God;

but as long as we love one another

God will live in us

and his love will be complete in us.

We can know that we are living in him

and he is living in us

because he lets us share his Spirit.

We ourselves saw and we testify

that the Father sent his Son

as saviour of the world.

If anyone acknowledges that Jesus is the Son of God,

God lives in him, and he in God.

We ourselves have known and put our faith in

God’s love towards ourselves.

God is love

and anyone who lives in love lives in God,

and God lives in him.

Gospel Acclamation	Jn14:23

Alleluia, alleluia!

Jesus said: ‘If anyone loves me he will keep my word,

and my Father will love him,

and we shall come to him.’

Alleluia!

Gospel	John 15:9-17 ©

Jesus said to his disciples:

‘As the Father has loved me,

so I have loved 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 own joy may be in you

and your joy be complete.

This is my commandment:

love one another, as I have loved you.

A man can have no greater love

than to lay down his life for his friends.

You are my friends,

if you do what I command you.

I shall not call you servants any more,

because a servant does not know

his master’s business;

I call you friends,

because I have made known to you

everything I have learnt from my Father.

You did not choose me:

no, I chose you;

and I commissioned you

to go out and to bear fruit,

fruit that will last;

and then the Father will give you

anything you ask him in my name.

What I command you

is to love one another.’

Gospel Acclamation	cf.Jn14:18

Alleluia, alleluia!

I will not leave you orphans, says the Lord;

I will come back to you,

and your hearts will be full of joy.

Alleluia!

Gospel	John 17:11-19 ©

Jesus raised his eyes to heaven and said:

‘Holy Father,

keep those you have given me true to your name,

so that they may be one like us.

While I was with them,

I kept those you had given me true to your name.

I have watched over them

and not one is lost

except the one who chose to be lost,

and this was to fulfil the scriptures.

But now I am coming to you

and while still in the world I say these things

to share my joy with them to the full.

I passed your word on to them,

and the world hated them,

because they belong to the world

no more than I belong to the world.

I am not asking you to remove them from the world,

but to protect them from the evil one.

They do not belong to the world

any more than I belong to the world.

Consecrate them in the truth;

your word is truth.

As you sent me into the world,

I have sent them into the world,

and for their sake I consecrate myself

so that they too may be consecrated in truth.’