Love One Another

fifth Sunday of Easter
May 15, 2022   

SCRIPTURE
Acts 14:21–27
Rv 21:1–5a
Jn 13:31–33a,34–35

PREACHING

Sister Priscilla Wood, OP

Three simple words . . . three simple words that sum up a way of life, a command to action, and a challenge to live—”Love one another.”

Where do we start? What must be open in our own hearts for us to be open to all others?

Herbert McCabe, OP, said, “We love our neighbors not, first of all, because of what we see in them, but because of what God sees in them." That changes the equation, doesn’t it? It changes our perspective! It’s not what I think or assume about another that makes it easy or difficult to love. It is a lifetime task of trying to see the other through God’s eyes, to see what is created and known by the Holy. 

In these days when we can so easily talk about evil in the world and the great sins of greed and mindless, destruction and death, these three simple words rise out of that bleak chaos to take root in our hearts. This way of life, struggling to follow that command to lifelong action of relentless loving  (if we truly are the disciples we say we want to be) is the only choice we have—a rich and glorious and demanding choice.

Sister Priscilla Wood, OP