{"id":6329,"date":"2021-05-09T11:54:47","date_gmt":"2021-05-09T15:54:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/?p=6329"},"modified":"2021-05-09T11:54:47","modified_gmt":"2021-05-09T15:54:47","slug":"6th-sunday-of-easter-year-b-homily-3","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/6th-sunday-of-easter-year-b-homily-3\/","title":{"rendered":"6th Sunday of Easter, Year B – Homily"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

6th<\/sup> Sunday of Easter, Year B<\/a>
Acts 10:25-26, 34-35, 44-48
Psalm 98:1, 2-3, 3-4 (2b)
1 John 4:7-10
John 15:9-17
May 9, 2021<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Peter is led by God to the house of Cornelius.  There Cornelius falls \u201cat his feet<\/em>\u201d to pay homage to Peter.  Peter does not accept the homage for he knows he is \u201calso a human being<\/em>.\u201d  Peter knows that \u201chomage\u201d belongs to God alone.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That being said, there is nothing wrong with \u201chonoring\u201d people for the good things they do.  For instance, to venerate the saints is to honor the example they are for us.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Today our nation gives honor to a category of people, our mothers.  We honor our mothers for the good they do for us.  We thank God for our mothers.  We thank our mothers for putting up with us when we didn\u2019t always do what we should.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

God \u201cputs up\u201d with us when we don\u2019t do as we should.  \u201cGod shows no partiality<\/em>.\u201d  God offers his love to everyone. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Jews thought they were a chosen race.  They were in the sense that God had called them to a particular role.  However, they were not supposed to be an exclusive<\/em><\/strong> race.  Peter has come to know this in the way he saw the Holy Spirit \u201cpoured out on the Gentiles<\/em>.\u201d  Thus, led by the Holy Spirit, Peter baptizes Cornelius and his household. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe Lord has revealed to the nations his saving power<\/em>.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Salvation comes in a new way through Jesus but God had always been rescuing his people.  He rescued the Israelites from slavery in Egypt.  He sent the Israelites free from exile in Babylon.  He offers us salvation, setting us free from our sins.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Why?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cBecause love is of God.<\/em>\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It is God\u2019s nature to love.  He reveals his love to us in \u201chis saving power<\/em>.\u201d  We see his love revealed in a new way when He \u201csent his only Son into the world so that we might have life through him.<\/em>\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It is God\u2019s nature to love and He created us to love.  We love because we are first loved by God.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Love can be contagious.  \u201cJesus said to his disciples: \u201cAs the Father loves me, so I also love you\u2019.<\/em>\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We are to take the love we receive and share it.  Ideally, mothers (as well as fathers) do this.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Jesus wants us to know his love.  It is what makes us complete.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What does it mean to love?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Love is more than a warm fuzzy feeling.  Love may lead us to \u201cunpleasant\u201d tasks like a mother changing a diaper for her baby.  I doubt anyone enjoys changing a diaper as a physical act but one willing does it in love.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Jesus tells us, \u201cNo one has greater love than this, to lay down one\u2019s life for one\u2019s friends<\/em>.\u201d  Jesus doesn\u2019t just tell us this.  He demonstrates it to us as He gives his life for us on the Cross.  He does this because He loves us.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What is our response to Jesus\u2019 love?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Is it obedience that is not just a legal obedience?  Or are we obedient because we are afraid of Hell?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Or are we obedient because we trust in God\u2019s love?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Do we want to remain in his love?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Jesus tells us, \u201cIf you keep my commandments, you will remain in my love.<\/em>\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This is not a condition of God\u2019s love.  God will always love us no matter what.  However, we<\/em><\/strong> separate ourselves from that love when we choose to go our own way.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Think of the little child who is totally dependent on mom and dad.  The child trusts mom and dad because mom and dad have always been there for the child.  Why are mom and dad there?  Because they love their child. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

As little children, when we experience fear, we count on our parents.  We are \u201cobedient\u201d because of our trust in them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Then we grow up.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We become independent.  We think we know better and we go and do our own thing.  We might even become disobedient.  We may become \u201cdisobedient\u201d because we think we no longer need our parents.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The same can be true for us as children of God.  If we are taught about God\u2019s love, we trust that God loves us.  In that trust, we listen to what God teaches us.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As we grow up, we become independent.  We still want to know that God is with us just as we don\u2019t \u201cabandon\u201d our parents. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

We begin to make choices for ourselves.  We think we know what is good for us.  Hopefully we have learned what is good.  Who determines what is good?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

God\u2019s commandments tell us what is good.  Yet, sometimes we think we know better.  We become disobedient.  We sin.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In choosing to commit venial sin, we<\/u><\/em><\/strong> hurt our relationship with God.  In choosing to commit mortal sin, we<\/u><\/em><\/strong> break our relationship with God.  It is not God <\/em><\/strong>who breaks the relationship.  It is us.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The good news is God does not stop loving us.  That\u2019s why God makes repentance possible.  It is why Jesus laid down his life for us on the Cross, to heal our brokenness.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Jesus says to us, \u201cIt was not you who chose me, but I who choose you.<\/em>\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Jesus chooses to love us.  Do we choose to love him in response?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

6th Sunday of Easter, Year BActs 10:25-26, 34-35, 44-48Psalm 98:1, 2-3, 3-4 (2b)1 John 4:7-10John 15:9-17May 9, 2021 Peter is led by God to the house of Cornelius.  There Cornelius falls \u201cat his feet\u201d to pay homage to Peter.  Peter does not accept the homage for he knows he is \u201calso a human being.\u201d  Peter …<\/p>\n

Continue reading ‘6th Sunday of Easter, Year B – Homily’ »<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false}}},"categories":[82],"tags":[443],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pMTPk-1E5","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6329"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6329"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6329\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6334,"href":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6329\/revisions\/6334"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6329"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6329"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6329"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}