May 1^st 2016. SIXTH SUNDAY OF EASTER

GOSPEL: John 14:23-29

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 (Translation of a homily by Don Fabio Rosini broadcast on Vatican Radio)

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Don Fabio’s homily follows the Gospel.

GOSPEL                                    John 14:23-29

Jesus said to his disciples:

‘If anyone loves me he will keep my word,
and my Father will love him,
and we shall come to him
and make our home with him.
Those who do not love me do not keep my words.
And my word is not my own:
it is the word of the one who sent me.
I have said these things to you
while still with you;
but the Advocate, the Holy Spirit,
whom the Father will send in my name,
will teach you everything
and remind you of all I have said to you.
Peace I bequeath to you,
my own peace I give you,
a peace the world cannot give,
this is my gift to you.
Do not let your hearts be troubled or afraid.
You heard me say:
I am going away, and shall return.
If you loved me you would have been glad to know that I am going to the Father,
for the Father is greater than I.
I have told you this now before it happens,
so that when it does happen you may believe.

THE GOSPEL OF THE LORD: Praise to you Lord Jesus Christ

Kieran’s summary . . . What is more important, the observance of certain Christian tenets, or the love we have for God? Jesus shows us that love must come first. Obedience without love is just an external going through the motions. Once we truly love another person, then correct behaviour towards that person naturally follows. One of the problems with the way we have lived Christianity is that we have emphasized the external observance of the faith and have failed to nurture the primary thing: a loving relationship with God. This is not to say that observance of the Christian way of life is unimportant. Of course it is important, but we cannot put the cart before the horse. We must concentrate first on nurturing our community’s relationship with God. Once we do that, then we will find that they will naturally begin to behave in a Christian way. This is the foundation stone of a correct pastoral strategy! Don’t insist that the observance of certain external norms is the primary thing. The primary thing is to know and love God. Once we love him, then we will begin to keep his commandments.

What is more important in the spiritual life, love or obedience?

This Sunday we begin to orient ourselves towards Pentecost and the gift of the Holy Spirit. The Paraclete will bring to mind all of the things that Jesus has taught us. This will give us peace, the fact of having the continuous presence of Christ’s teaching with us. In the first reading we hear of the controversy that arises when some members of the Church insist that pagans be circumcised before becoming Christians. They demand obedience to the Law of Moses. Paul and Barnabas and other elders of the Church like Peter, contest this requirement. They agree that a certain minimum obedience is necessary, a rejection of idolatry and disorder, but the emphasis now must be something different. And this is highlighted by the phrase in the Gospel, “If anyone loves me, he will keep my commandments”. Which ought to come first, love or obedience? Often, we try to substitute rules and regulations in place of love. When love is absent from our hearts, we often try to imitate it with an insistence on the external motions and requirements of love. In relationships that lack gratuity and generosity, norms and rules become more prominent. Rules help to make life without love more bearable, more controllable, and assist us in keeping our consciences clear.

Love, not fear,  must be the origin of our obedience

God’s way is different. Jesus does not begin with obedience but with love. How often we are inclined to think that the correct course of action, the way to keep our conscience quiet, is to ensure that our external behaviour coheres with a particular model, structure or list of acts. But this leads only to a superficial and exterior form of relationship with God. The driving fulcrum of the relationship with our minds, our bodies, and our behaviour must be the love we have in our hearts. Just think about it: when we truly love another person (as opposed to illusory love that is really attachment to myself), we know immediately what is necessary and right to do, and what is wrong and inappropriate. If, in a relationship, we demand only certain minimum concessions that guarantee our own comfort, then that relationship has failed as far as love is concerned.  Obedience must be a consequence of love, not its departure point. In the spiritual life, obedience is an effect only – it is unconditional love that is the origin of everything. Children need rules, but they come to obey them because of the affection that is the ultimate origin of the need for rules. The love between them and their parents is what gives sense to the regulations. Fear cannot be the motor of our relationship with God. Rather it must be the joy of being in his presence, of being pleasing to him.

The origin of Christianity is in unconditional love. Why then do we insist on the externals of the Christian faith instead of trying to cultivate love?

“If anyone loves me he will keep my word . .” Those who are in love understand the demands that go with a relationship of that sort. They do not need some exterior authority to oblige them to make sacrifices for love. Christianity has its origin in the fact that the disciples experienced this world of being loved unconditionally, and too often it has been transformed into a universe of prohibitions and norms. We must have the love of Christ in our hearts. We cannot go on mimicking love with exterior regulations. Too often in the past, pastors and leaders of the faith have made their starting point the insistence that certain regulations be maintained. We should be aware that there is a reason why people are lacking in generosity, why they do not keep the regulations: it is because the regulations in themselves bring us nowhere. If we have to raise our voices and shout aloud to demand obedience, then something is lacking. If our people loved, then obedience would follow. The one who has received much will give much. Maybe the reason why our flock gives so little is because they have received so little? Too often our pastoral strategy puts the cart before the horse. We look for “results” in terms of certain behaviour from people, but we do not seek to cultivate the love in people’s hearts that would naturally give rise to such results. We ask from our people before we give to them. Or we give to them in a conditional way.

The true life of faith, the nurturing of a relationship with God, is brought about by the action of the Spirit, not by coercion.

“If someone loves me, he will keep my word . .” Certainly, the Father asks for obedience. Christ also asks for our love, but only in response to the immense love that he has shown for us. Let us busy ourselves in giving, acting, making our hearts swell with generosity. All the rest will come about by itself. If it does not come by itself and has to be coerced, then it is not the work of the Holy Spirit! It is our work and it will bring us nowhere.