Sixth Sunday of Easter
Acts 10: 25-26, 34-35, 44-48; 1 John 4: 7-10; John 15: 9-17
By Deacon Larry Brockman
How many of you would lay down your life for your friends? And yet, that is what we are being called to do by Jesus. That’s the kind of love we are being asked to show.
Several years ago, I presided at a funeral for a lady. She had come over here from England and was running her own business with her husband when she came down with cancer. Her husband told me a very interesting story about her. He told me about the special relationship she had with her one and only son. It seems that when they first got married, she really wanted to have children. But the doctors told her that because of a medical condition she had, she could not carry a baby to birth without severe risk of death. A couple of years later, she became pregnant, and the same doctors told her that she had to abort her child or die. She just couldn’t do that. She had always wanted a baby with all her heart, and she had fallen in love with the unborn child. And so, she carried that baby through till birth and suffered through a very, very difficult pregnancy. The doctors were constantly advising her to abort her child or die. But she was willing to sacrifice her own life for her child. That, brothers and sisters, is the kind of love that Jesus is talking about. It’s the kind of love that is unselfish; love that is a commitment to a higher purpose. And it is no secret, it is the kind of love that Mothers have for their children.
Today, we celebrate Mother’s Day, and rightfully recognize the love that our Mother’s have for us. It is the kind of love that gets Mom’s up at all hours to feed and change their babies; the kind of love that sacrifices career and personal goals so that a child is taken care of; and it is the kind of love that sacrifices our own wants and needs so that our children will have the very best. And so, we honor all our mothers today for the unselfish love they have given us.
But let me go back for a moment and ask this question: How can we love God all the time like Moms love their children? We can understand a Mom’s love for her child, and we can understand how God loves us like that- giving up His own son Jesus for us. But how can we love God like that?
First, we have to listen to God. We have to hear what he wants of us. A mother knows how to listen to her child. She is in tune with the words, the body language, and the overall status of her child at all times. We need to do the same thing with God. God wants the very best for us but we must listen to him. He talks to us through the ordinary events of life: our prayers, the pangs of our conscience, and the opportunities that present themselves in the events of our lives. Because of the Christ that is in all the people around us, God is relating to us all the time. Yes, the people around us are calling out to us as Christ for our love and help. And so, when we show kindness to others, we are loving God.
And finally we need to lay down our life for God We do that whenever we make sacrifices for others- like a mother that puts her day out with the friends on the back burner when her child needs help.
Now even though the love of God is unconditional, and we are being asked to love the same way, there is another side to love that we should talk about. Because as much as God loves us; and as much as we love our children; there is always the possibility that this love will be rejected. Sometimes our children reject our love. And sometimes we reject God’s love for us. There is something we need to learn from that. First, that we have to keep right on loving whether the love is returned or not. That’s what God does for us. Now there are many Moms out there who feel a great sense of loss because the love they have for their children has been rejected or forgotten. But they continue to love their children. So secondly, we need to forgive those who love us, and return that love. That is the real love of God at work. God loves all of us that way.
Now, when it comes to the Church, we often use the term Holy Mother the Church. Why? Because the Church acts in our interest like a mother. The Church has a responsibility to always tell us the truth- God’s truth, just like we tell our children the truth. As children, sometimes we listen; and sometimes we don’t. But no matter what we have done, no matter how we may have rejected her in the past, the Church is always there to welcome us back; and she is constantly nurturing our needs. She does that with the Sacraments and with Church Teachings. She teaches us how to live like Jesus and love.
For some time now, the Church in this country has been caring for the people of God in a free and open environment. So, the Church operates schools and hospitals and adoption agencies and services for the poor. She provides those services to one and all; but only in so far as they are provided consistent with Church teachings. This is what we would expect from a good mother- that everything she does be done with the best of intentions.
As it turns out, Holy Mother the Church needs us now because She is being attacked. Secular society and the Government are telling Holy Mother the Church what She must do through the HHS Mandate. They are telling the church that she has no right to help others outside our faith unless she is willing to compromise Her own beliefs. This is something the Church cannot, and will not do. The Church will close up all her services before that happens.
Jesus says that the way you will know if He remains in you is if you keep His commandments. The Church knows that, and for that reason will not compromise on the commandments. All of us need to keep God’s commandment as well, to love God, and our neighbor as ourselves and to follow what the Church teaches. We also need to support our mothers. Those who have loved us unconditionally, loved us as they love life itself.
In this time of need, we need to be there for Holy Mother the Church as well. We need to love the Church, the body of Christ with our actions and words and hearts; loving Her as we love our own lives.
