Homily on the Fifth Sunday of Easter, 18 May 2025, Maryville Chapel, Talamban
Last week I was in Manila to officiate a wedding. Since the bride was my niece I got curious what their love story was. And so, I met up with her and her bridegroom-to-be last February so I can interview them face to face. When I asked them about the most memorable event in their life, both of them agreed it was their first date on Sept 11, 2023. Each of them had actually been crushed and broken by a previous relationship. But on that day, the anniversary of the crushing of the US World Trade Center by two hijacked planes, they finally found in each other the true love that would make them whole again. And after three months of dating, they finally became a couple, “nahimo silang officially mag-uyab, mag-jowa”. That was how their love story began.
We are now on the fifth Sunday of our Easter celebration. If you recall, last Sunday we contemplated the Lord as the Good Shepherd who knows his sheep and whose sheep knows his voice. Today, we focus our eyes once again on him who stands in our midst today as the risen Lord, triumphant over death and over all evil. And he addresses all of us (from a heart filled with tender loving care but with a voice exuding firmness) saying, “I give you a new commandment, love one another. As I have loved you, so you also should love one another” (John 13:31-35). What could Jesus really mean by these words?
Before attempting to answer this question, let us first take a look at the context. I think that towards the end of the three years the apostles spent with Jesus, they still found it hard to accept and love each other as true brothers in the Lord. Some of them must have struggled a lot trying to practice the fraternal life they were called to live day after day. We can imagine, for instance, the possible aloofness of the fishermen Peter and Andrew towards tax collector Matthew who used to collect exorbitant taxes from them in the name of the Roman conquerors; or perhaps the envy of fishermen James and John towards their old partner Simon Peter whom Jesus had chosen to be the head of the apostles. And I guess there could be other conflicts and clashes among them not mentioned by the gospel writers.
Hence, we can say that Jesus, before his death, had felt the need to give them a new commandment. It was not totally new but at the same time not totally different from what the disciples had already heard. And the new command was, they should love one another as he had loved them. By saying so, Jesus had raised the standard of Christian loving. The standard was no longer one’s love of self as we find in an earlier teaching that he gave (“Love your neighbor as yourself” see Mk 12:31; Mt 22:39). The standard this time was himself “love as I have loved you.” And how did Jesus love? Totally and selflessly!
In fact Jesus himself walked his talk. He bent down to wash the feet of his apostle, and he even washed the feet of Judas whom he knew would eventually betray him. Moreover, on the cross Jesus asked his heavenly Father to forgive our sins including those of the people who crucified him. Furthermore, Jesus also taught his disciples emphatically that it is by their love for one another that the whole world would get to know them to be his disciples.
What could the Lord be calling us to do concretely today? Many of us continue to hurt and be hurt either by friends, or family members, neighbors or fellow homeowners. The May 12 elections are finally over and those who have won had already been proclaimed. But those who have lost may still be in pain. I guess and I believe Jesus’ words today are directed precisely to us, who, because we love, eventually get hurt. At this point of our life and our history it is really difficult and challenging to obey this “new” command of Jesus. But the Risen Lord, who has overcome all evil, now calls and challenges us to transcend all our differences, to manage better our emotions, and to heal each other’s hurts. Empowered by his love and led by the divine Spirit we are called to reconcile with one another, unite to overcome every obstacle and together move forward to where the Holy Spirit might be leading us. The whole world is watching us, and if we are able to give credible witness to the power of love that Jesus is commanding us today, our vibrant faith will continue to be a beacon of light for the rest of the world.
Allow me to end with the same love story with which I began – the story of Carter and Vanessa. After they became steady as boyfriend and girlfriend, a major trial immediately came upon them making a sharp twist in their love story. Just within a span of nine days after they became “SILA” a life-threatening illness shocked Carter, and diagnosis of the doctors was leukemia. How did he they try to resolve this untimely crisis?
Hours after Carter got confirmation of his cancer in Singapore, he told Vanessa in a video call something that sounded so incredibly selfless. He said that he did not want her to feel obligated to stay in the relationship, for he did not want her to carry the burden of responsibility.
How did Vanessa react and respond? Did she agree and walk away saying “Ah okay. Sige magpagaling ka muna, ha. Kawawa ka naman. But I’ll pray for you”? No, not at all. Surprisingly, she did not give in to the temptation of a break-up or a cool-off until further notice. I believe what she saw in her boyfriend was not a burden, but rather a blessing.
She realized that even with the terribly shocking news of his boyfriend’s diagnosis and the pain going on in his body, her brave Carter was still prioritizing her, making sure that she would choose what was best for her, regardless of what that would mean for him. In short, Carter was being selfless in thinking about how Vanessa would feel. And so, she told him that his getting cancer was not how things would end between them. She would do everything she could to get him to recover fully, and she would be by his side no matter what. And she did. Her love has crushed Leukemia.
Brothers and sisters, isn’t this what selfless love is all about, on the part of both the bridegroom and the bride? How they both resolved their crisis, I believe, is a very concrete application and a very inspiring example of what Jesus taught us in the Gospel, “This is my commandment: love one another as I have loved you.”
The way Carter has loved Vanessa, and similarly, also the way Vanessa has loved Carter is precisely the way Christ has loved us – not for his own comfort, pleasure and satisfaction, but rather – selflessly, that is, for our own well-being and redemption. In fact during the last three years of his public ministry, Jesus served the needs of the poor, the sick and the afflicted, not for one day, not for one week, not for one month, not for one year only but all the days and years of his remaining life. A love like that cannot be but total and selfless, faithful and fruitful.
May this Eucharist transform our love for another to be like that of Christ, total and selfless, keeping in mind that a selfless Christ-like love can crush any trial or obstacle even leukemia. GiGsss!