SIXTH SUNDAY OF EASTER

[cappie]

 Abide with Me is a familiar hymn that Henry Francis Lyte penned while battling tuberculosis. A request: for God to abide with us always, and even more so when the “darkness deepens” or “other helpers fail.” But what does it mean for God to abide with us?

The gospel reading from John reminds us of Jesus’ words to his disciples and us that, “As the Father has loved me, so I have loved you; abide or remain in my love” (John 15:9).  

 In the gospel, Jesus lays out three benefits of abiding in him. First that the love of God is present in us, and, as a result, we can love like Jesus.  Verse 13 spells out what it means to love as Jesus loves: “No one has greater love than this, to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.”  

Taylor Branch in Parting the Waters tells what happened after Dr King’s front porch was bombed while his wife and 10-week-old baby were inside: “King walked out onto the front porch. Holding up his hand for silence, he tried to still the anger by speaking with an exaggerated peacefulness in his voice. Everything was all right, he said. ‘Don’t get panicky. Don’t do anything panicky. Don’t get your weapons. If you have weapons, take them home. He who lives by the sword will perish by the sword. Remember that is what Jesus said… We want to love our enemies. I want you to love our enemies. Be good to them. This is what we must live by. We must meet hate with love.’” 

Dr. King is just one example of the love of Jesus being humanly possible; there are others. This tells us that it’s possible for us all, with God’s help.

Second, abiding in Jesus and loving like Jesus creates joy. We become joyful and joy is present when Jesus abides with us and when we abide in Jesus’ love. Jesus said, “If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commandments and abide in his love. I have said these things to you so that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be complete” (John 15:10-11).

In life, sometimes joy is hard to find: when disappointments and setbacks are the order of the day and God seems far or prayers seem unanswered. It is difficult to keep one’s joy when there is no hope, or the walls seem to be caving in all around us. The strength we need for this life is found in the essential joy that God provides if we abide in him and in his love.

Thirdly, abiding in Jesus means that we are anointed to bear fruit that will last. Jesus says, “You did not choose me, but I chose you. And I appointed you to go and bear fruit, fruit that will last, so that the Father will give you whatever you ask him in my name” (John 15:16).

The proof is in the fruit we produce A good tree does not bear bad fruit. Jesus is serious about his disciples bearing fruit. Good fruit. Fruit that will last.

We have been called by Jesus, who lives in us, to bear fruit. The message of this Sunday's readings points to the reason why the mission of the Church must reach out to the world around us with respect and compassion and, with love. Of course, our identity as Catholics remains essential--we must know who we are and draw strength from our rich Catholic heritage: our Eucharist and sacraments, our spirituality, the example of our saints, the wisdom of the Church's teaching. 

But at the core of that identity is the call to give witness to a God who loves the people "of every nation" and who embraces our world and creation itself.  When Jesus abides in us, we can’t help but exude his love and ways and share them. We can’t help but be joyful in all things. And the fruit we bear is good and pleasing in God’s sight. Abiding with Jesus is exemplifying the love that God and Jesus share with each other and that we as a community are called to enact. Like Lyte, if we acknowledge our state and beseech Jesus to abide with us, teaching us to love like him, we can joyfully sing out in confidence:

Hold thou thy cross before my closing eyes;
shine through the gloom and point me to the skies;
heaven’s morning breaks, and earth’s vain shadows flee;
in life, in death, O Lord, abide with me.