18 May 2025 - 5th Sunday of Easter “C”
Acts 14:21...27; Rev 21:1-5; John 13:31...35
Homily
Jesus' last words to his disciples at the Last Supper have rightly been called his “spiritual testament”. Jesus does not give His disciples a final set of precepts or detailed recommendations about what they should or should not do. When He says: ‘A new commandment I give you, that you love one another’, the Greek word (entolè), which we translate into French as ‘commandment’ for want of a better term, has, in John's language, a doctrinal rather than a moral or legal meaning. In this context, it is much more a question of a ‘mission’ than a commandment. The word ‘mission’ implies that we are sent by someone to achieve something (unfortunately this word ‘mission’, so rich in meaning, tends nowadays to lose its richness, being frequently used to express the goal that a group gives itself). Loving one another is the mission we have received from Jesus. And this is how people will know we are His disciples; this is how we will be His witnesses.