Fifth Sunday of Easter

Praised be Jesus and Mary, now and forever. Amen.

                 As members of the parish community of St. Jerome, we are always motivated to make our endeavors deeply rooted in God’s Word through different liturgical and parish activities we are celebrating every day. We are supposed to be showing our distinctive character as believers in Jesus who leads us to wherever He wants us to be. He leads us through His most encouraging and loving commandment that aims to shape our life according to His Heart’s desire. The supremacy of God’s commandment is found in the loving and compassionate Heart of Our Savior. The message of the Gospel this weekend flows from His Heart. He said, “I give you a new commandment: love one another. As I have loved you, so you also should love one another.” (Jn 13:34) We believe that this is the greatest commandment. All the commandments written in the New and Old Testaments can be reduced into this new instruction of Jesus. Love is the new face of doing God’s Will. Loving one another as Jesus has loved us will lead us to a place where we can encounter the Truth. This Truth is God Himself who is the Author of Love. Love is Truth. Truth is Love. God is Truth and Love. Living God’s truth is living God’s love and vice-versa. St. Paul’s famous sermon on love has been the most quoted in many generations up until this time. He said, “Love is patient, love is kind. It is not jealous, [love] is not pompous, it is not inflated,it is not rude, it does not seek its own interests, it is not quick-tempered, it does not brood over injury, it does not rejoice over wrongdoing but rejoices with the truth.It bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.” (1Cor 13:4-7) These descriptions connote the real nature of God’s love.

We have probably noticed that love has been the most abused and misused word. There are times when God’s love is used out of context. Sometimes it is used very subjectively. Once in a while, it is used according to what one feels or just to express one’s emotional situation. However, God’s love is something else. It’s more than a word or a feeling.  It’s actually an action. God’s commandment to love one another is a selfless action that promotes the well-being of another. Last weekend, we celebrated the love of the Good Shepherd and the love of all mothers. Undoubtedly, their love is patient and kind. Their love, as St. Paul says, bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love can do everything. It has a power in and of itself. The more we love, the more it becomes powerful, the more we become true lovers. This is the kind of love that Jesus is talking about in the Gospel this weekend. This is the kind of love that our parish needs in order for us to gain spiritual wellness. This is the kind of love that will make us caring disciples of Jesus.

As we strive to make this love concrete in our daily lives, we need to start with little things. Think with love. Speak with love. Pray with love. Obey with love. Teach with love. Share with love. Put love in every little thing we do. This is a powerful way of planting the seed of love in our daily activities. When we do it incessantly, we are going to harvest its fruits at the right and perfect time. 

The month of May is considered a month of love because we dedicate this whole month in honor of the most loving and Blessed Virgin Mary. She is the Mother whose love is definitely great because she did the Will of God with perfect love and fidelity. She suffered for love and came out victorious in the end because love never fails. She gave her great love to her Son Jesus in response to having received a much greater amount of love from Him. We honor the Blessed Mother with love because she has been inspiring us to be closer to Jesus. The flowers, prayers, and songs we offer to her are expressions of our gratitude and love not only for her but also for her Son. In the persons of Mary and Jesus we find the true and profound meaning of love. We should be persons who are always inspired by the love of Jesus and Mary. Mary helps us understand how to love the way her Son loves us.

It is my constant prayer that our parish community and your own family may be filled with God’s love so that we can truly respond to Jesus’ commandment to love one another as He has loved us.

May God bless you and your family!

Fr. Joel Ricafranca, RCJ

Associate Pastor

St. Jerome Parish