FRIDAY OF THE FIFTH WEEK OF EASTER, MAY 23, 2025

MASS READINGS:

 Gospel

John 15:12-17

Jesus said to his disciples:

"This is my commandment: love one another as I love you.

No one has greater love than this,

to lay down one's life for one's friends.

You are my friends if you do what I command you.

I no longer call you slaves,

because a slave does not know what his master is doing.

I have called you friends,

because I have told you everything I have heard from my Father.

It was not you who chose me, but I who chose you

and appointed you to go and bear fruit that will remain,

so that whatever you ask the Father in my name he may give you.

This I command you: love one another."

REFLECTION:

"I no longer call you slaves,

because a slave does not know what his master is doing".

Note: This reflection covers sensitive topics. Please read with caution.

 

“I no longer call you slaves, because a slave does not know what his master is doing.”(John 15:15)

 

I’ve read this Gospel so many times, and I still don’t understand it.

I don’t know what He’s doing. Does that make me a slave?

 

Because I can feel the shackles around my neck, wrists, and legs, etched into my skin.

It hurts. It blisters. It festers. I feel like a slave.

Those scars can only be healed by the One who holds the key to true freedom.

 

Also with His commandment: “Love one another as I love you.”

 

My first thoughts about love are all negative.

The word alone makes me flinch.

So I’ll be honest. I don’t know what kind of love He means.

The love I learned is certainly not what He intended.

 

How do I know?

Because of the context.

I have to remind myself to imagine the exact opposite of my learned experience.

Maybe that is closer to what He means.

 

I’ve already accepted that I have a mug only my Creator could love.

I consider my heart long dead.

So if He wants to revive it, so be it.

If He chooses to leave it as it is, that’s fine too.

After all, it belongs to Him. 

 

I know I’m not capable of the love He speaks of.

So when someone walks through my front door in need,

I shuffle aside and let Him love whoever it is, in His way.

Perhaps, like a dog, I’ll eat from the scraps of love that fall from His hands and learn from it.

 

That is the only way I can think of to abide by His commandment.