FIFTH SUNDAY OF EASTER
‘Love one another, just as I have loved you’
Holocaust survivor Elie Wiesel recounts how
Auschwitz camp authorities advised prisoners
to think only of themselves if they wished to
survive. Yet invariably, it was those who insisted
on remembering loved ones who were more likely
to come through their desperate ordeal. The
command to love was central to the preaching
of Jesus, and it was certainly at the heart of His
final address to His disciples in the Upper Room.
The love He speaks of takes us beyond ourselves
to be the best of ourselves, and the measure of
our love will decide the measure of our happiness.
Sixteenth century Spanish mystic, St. John of the
Cross, expressed this challenging teaching with
striking clarity: ‘in the evening of life we shall be
judged on love alone’. Interestingly, Jesus did not
command His disciples to love the whole world,
but rather, to love one another. When Mother
Teresa reflected on the implications of these words
of the Lord she offered this wise and practical
advice: ‘Love begins by taking care of the closest
ones… If you want to change the world go home
and love your family’.
Motto of Pope Leo: ‘In Illo Uno Unum’
which means ‘In the One we are One’.
Based on the words of St. Augustine:
‘Although we Christians are many,
in the one Christ we are one’.
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