“I give you a new commandment, that you love one another. Just as I have loved you, you also should love one another. By this everyone will know you are my disciples, if you have love for one another” (John 13: 34-35).

There is a great song that summarises today’s readings. It goes like this:

We are one in the Spirit, we are one in the Lord
We are one in the Spirit, we are one in the Lord
And we pray that our unity will one day be restored
And they’ll know we are Christians by our love, by our love
Yeah they’ll know we are Christians by our love

We will work with each other, we will work side by side
We will work with each other, we will work side by side
And we’ll guard each man’s dignity and save each man’s pride
And they’ll know we are Christians by our love, by our love
Yeah, they’ll know we are Christians by our love.

This song describes the fact that often what attracted people to Christianity in the early Church was the charity and love shown to one another by the early Christians.

An example of this reality in our parish is the parish’s Winter Welcome Table Program that serves a meal to anyone in need in our community. Often Catholics, other Christians and non- Christians, come to the parish because of the Winter Welcome Table Program. When they see the great work that is done at this meal, they often want to know more about the parish and some even return to attending Mass.

In the event that you do not know what is done by the Winter Welcome Table Program, I will say a few things about it. From November to April, this program serves a home cooked meal to over one hundred people who would not otherwise enjoy one. There are different groups of volunteers who set-up, cook, serve and clean-up. Many of you donate winter clothing that is distributed  to people in need. A faithful crew of volunteers also sorts the clothing and hands out toiletries and other essentials to people in need. The parish is part of a larger network of churches, synagogues and other agencies who help to make sure there is a place where each day a meal can be given to people. On days that the meal is not served here, the St. Vincent De Paul Society prepares food packages, which are given out here, and the parish also gives out more than a thousand Tim Hortons cards for meals every year. This is the most visible way that we as a parish community attempt to keep Jesus’ commandment to love one another as He has loved us.

In this Easter Season, it is very important for us to understand the connection between what we do up here in the church and what we do in the church basement. Or perhaps a better way to say it would be what Jesus does for us here in the church calls us to be in response to His gift of self at the Last Supper and on Good Friday. Every time that we celebrate the Eucharist, we do with Christ what He did with His disciples at the Last Supper. As He gives us His Body and Blood, He shows us His love and gives us His Holy Spirit so that we might love others as He loved us. Filled with His Holy Spirit, we are to be sent out into the world to continue to make Him present. By this, we are to show that we are Christians by our love.

While the Winter Welcome Table is one way in which our community does this, we are each of us to do this in the different situations to which we are sent in the course of the day. As difficult as it is to always act in a loving way, we are to do so in our families, work places and other places that we are sent. One of the jobs of the Church is to remind us of this and the call that belongs to all of us to care for others. We are reminded in today’s first reading that it is the role of the Church to encourage all of us as we hear about Paul and Barnabas strengthening and encouraging the disciples and appointing priests to encourage the believers in their absence. Pope Francis called all of us to care for and love one another. Cardinal Leo came here at Christmas to encourage our program. At the Winter Welcome Table, it is so wonderful to see so many parishioners and volunteers work to make Christ present to others. I emphasize this point because it is the call of all the baptized to continue Christ’s work—all baptized—the laity, religious and ordained.

If each one of us really did take seriously the call to love one another as Christ loved us, I think the words of the second reading from Revelation would come true: “See, the home of God is among humans. He will dwell with them as their God: they will be his people, and God himself will be with them: He will wipe every tear from their eyes” (Revelation 21: 3-4). This will happen as soon as we each make a place for God to dwell in our hearts and act on His behalf. The questions are often asked, “Why does God allow suffering to happen?” “Why doesn’t He come down here and do something about it?” The fact is that God sends us to do His work. It is only when we fail to do this that His work is not done. This is why St. Theresa of Avila said:

“Christ has no body but yours,
No hands, no feet on earth but yours,
Yours are the eyes with which he looks
Compassion on this world,
Yours are the feet with which he walks to do good,
Yours are the hands, with which he blesses all the world.
Yours are the hands, yours are the feet,
Yours are the eyes, you are his body.”

It is our calling to do Christ’s work today. I think if we were all to do so, we would see the new Heaven and new earth and the New Jerusalem coming down from Heaven as prophesised in the Book of Revelation. However, because we stick to our old and comfortable ways, such miracles do not take place.

As I have mentioned, one of the reasons that we have readings from the Acts of the Apostles in the Easter Season is to remind us that Christ’s work is to continue with the Church. We will end the Easter season by celebrating Christ’s ascension into Heaven and the sending of the Holy Spirit upon the Church at Pentecost. After Pentecost, the disciples go out and continue Christ’s work. This is what you and I are sent to do after every Mass. At Mass, we remember what Christ did for us, how he loved us and how we are called to love as He loved us.

Recently, it has seemed to me, and I think to many people, that the world has become a much crueler place. This is perhaps the aftermath of the pandemic when people went into survival mode and learned to think only of themselves. It does not have to be this way. One act at a time, we can all make a difference. Imagine how different the world—your world—could be, if the next time you felt like getting angry and doing something negative, you just stopped and made an effort to do something different. Many people have spoken about the good Pope Francis did. At the end of his autobiography, Pope Francis said that he was just one person and that we are all called to make a difference. Whatever is happening in the world today is not working. Almost everyone wants the world to be different. In order for the world to be different, each one of us needs to make a difference.

Jesus has told us how to make the world different. He has given us the example. He has even given us the very simple instructions on how to do it in a new commandment: “I give you a new commandment, that you love one another. Just as I have loved you, you also should love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.”

May Christ grant all of us the grace to be the difference!

Fr. Michael McGourty
Pastor- St. Peter’s Parish—Toronto.

This reflection based on the readings for the Fifth Sunday of Easter—Year C: Acts 14: 21b-27; Psalm 145; Revelation 21: 1-5a; and John 13: 1, 31-33a, 34-35.