6th Sunday of Easter

The students at Yap Catholic High School, where I work, remind me of God’s love and Jesus’ friendship each day.  Sometimes it’s the younger students who are in love for the first time, as evidenced by their constant smiles and their overall good moods, no matter what else is going on around them.  After a while, especially when things don’t work out with the one with whom they were smitten, things go back to normal.  By in the meantime, I am reminded that God loves me and as a result smiles when He sees me.  As one prayer meditation suggests, “Behold God beholding you and smiling.”

That reality of who God is and what God does is at the heart of today’s Scripture readings: God loves us and, more importantly, God loved us first. We didn’t do anything to earn it.  We certainly don’t deserve it.  And, perhaps best of all, we never have to worry about God deciding that God doesn’t love us after all. God cannot not love us.  God is love and God can’t love us more and God can’t love us less because God’s love for us is infinite.

It’s amazing and it’s simple, but it changes everything.  And as we grow in greater realization of this love, as we know it, not just in our heads, but in our hearts as well, we are grateful and we have peace, no matter what else we are up against.  Again, I see something similar when students are in love.  It changes everything for them and they can’t keep from smiling.  I’ve seen people who first realize that God loves them have the same reaction, a smile and a peace that doesn’t quit.

Our students are also tremendous friends to each other.  They look out for one another.  They include everyone, in everything, whether it is volleyball or basketball or just sitting on the veranda sharing the food.  They are quick to laugh and enjoy being together, even it if it is just to read quietly as they spread out on the floor. 

All this has helped me to see Jesus, who calls his disciples His friends, in a new light.  He too would have been quick to smile and laugh, whether He was talking quietly to one of them or listening to a group of them.  Jesus really was the best of friends with the Twelve. And He offers each of us that same intimacy and warmth in our relationship with Him. 

We know too during this Easter season that with the coming of the Holy Spirit that same love and friendship bound the early Church community together.  Jesus had shared everything He had heard from His Father with the disciples and now the Holy Spirit has reminded them of all that Jesus said and the Spirit has empowered them to do the same works that Jesus had done. 

These same Easter gifts are offered to the Church today.  God loves us.  Jesus calls us friends. The Holy Spirit is being poured out in response to our prayers.  We are changed by the love of God and we are freed and empowered to share that love with others.  God behold us and loves us and smiles.  We see that and smile back at God and at each other. 

St. Teresa of Calcutta knew what power there was there in that, for she said, “Peace begins with a smile.”  As a Church, and as individuals, we have a mission to do as our friend Jesus did, bearing fruit that will last, by sharing the love with which He first loved us.  Alleluia!