Sunday 5th (C) of Easter
“Love one another”
Today, Jesus invites us to love one another, here also in this complex world that we live in, where good and evil are mingled together. We often feel tempted to look at our world as a misfortune, as a piece of bad news, whereas we Christians, instead, are responsible for bringing out the Good News of Jesus Christ to this violent and unfair world.
Yes, indeed, Jesus tells us: “love one another, as I have loved you” (Jn 13:34). And, a good way to love one another, to put God's Word into practice, is to announce, always and everywhere, the Good News of the Gospel, which is nothing else but Jesus Christ!
Saint Paul wrote: “But we hold this treasure in earthen vessels” (2Cor 4:7). What treasure is this? That of the Word, that of the very God, and we happen to be its terracotta vessels. Yet, this treasure is too precious for us to keep for ourselves. We have to spread it around: “Go, therefore, and make disciples of all nations (...) teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, until the end of the age” (Mt 28:19-20). In fact —as Saint John Paul II wrote— “Those who have come into genuine contact with Christ cannot keep him for themselves, they must proclaim him.”
With this confidence in God, we announce the Gospel; let us do it with all our available means and wherever we can: by word of mouth, by our deeds and thoughts, through newspapers, Internet, in our work and with our friends... “Your kindness should be known to all. The Lord is near” (Phil 4:5).
Saint John Paul II emphasized that we must use the new technologies, openly, without beating around the bush, to spread the Good News of the Church as much as possible today, because only if our kindness is known to all, only by changing our heart, shall we achieve so our world changes too.