Daily Gospel Reflection
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May 12, 2023
Jesus said to his disciples:
“This is my commandment: love one another as I love you.
No one has greater love than this,
to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.
You are my friends if you do what I command you.
I no longer call you slaves,
because a slave does not know what his master is doing.
I have called you friends,
because I have told you everything I have heard from my Father.
It was not you who chose me, but I who chose you
and appointed you to go and bear fruit that will remain,
so that whatever you ask the Father in my name he may give you.
This I command you: love one another.”
Reflection
When I returned to walking around the Notre Dame lakes after a long winter, I was disappointed to see bare branches and dry bushes. My heart longed for spring. I kept searching and eventually noticed tiny tree buds and sprouts here and there.
Just as it takes attentive eyes to spot the early signs of spring, in our troubled world where suffering and bad news abound, it can be challenging to see Jesus’ command to love fulfilled.
But even in difficult circumstances, people choose to live out this commandment of love in action, as they listen with care and concern and seek to assist others the way they need to be helped. How can we nurture those little blossoms of love in action that give us hope so that they grow and multiply?
We may never fully understand the purity and depth of Jesus’s love for us and even now asks of us. But he gave us many signs of this greater love in action in building community, listening with empathy and compassion, supporting and accompanying others, and seeking what is truly good for them.
As his friends, he chose us to remain in perpetual bloom, constantly offering fruit that will last as we give ourselves to others. These seemingly little gifts of ourselves can have ripple effects on others’ lives beyond our imagination.
As we strive to leave this Earth a little better than we found it, perhaps we can reflect on how we might treat others with greater tolerance, compassion, and solidarity—in one word, with love. What if we started by looking into each other’s eyes and performing small acts of kindness for those we know and for strangers who are not yet our friends?
Perhaps if we did, we would find ourselves loving a little more like Jesus loves us.
Prayer
Dear Jesus, you laid down your life for us in sacrifice as our abiding friend, brother, and savior. Bless all those who have sacrificed so dearly for us. Help us all to make the world a better place by sharing the fruit of your abundant love. We entrust all we have and are to your goodness. Alleluia! Amen!
Saint of the Day
Sts. Nereus and Acheilleus were soldiers in the Roman army who were killed for refusing to participate further in persecuting Christians.
The Church has long honored these two saints, and the only certain history we have about them comes from an inscription that was placed above their tomb by Pope St. Damasus. Though it has worn away, we have records of what it said from pilgrims who visited their tomb and copied down the inscription. It describes the two soldiers who followed orders to persecute and kill Christians until they followed the truth they saw in Christ:
“The martyrs Nereus and Achilleus had enrolled themselves in the army and exercised the cruel office of carrying out the orders of the tyrant, being ever ready through the constraint of fear to obey his will. O miracle of faith! Suddenly they cease from their fury, they become converted, they fly from the camp of their wicked leader; they throw away their shields, their armor, and their blood-stained javelins. Confessing the faith of Christ, they rejoice to bear testimony to its triumph. Learn now from the words of Damasus what great things the glory of Christ can accomplish.”
We do not know how the two were martyred, though they were probably beheaded because they were Roman citizens. We can suppose that they, more than most Christians of the day, knew what consequences they would face because of their profession of faith.
A later legend arose about these two martyrs, which stated that they served Domitilla, the grand-niece of the emperor who was exiled for professing her faith. It is likely that this story is inaccurate, though, and simply comes from the fact that they were buried in a cemetery named after Domitilla.
Relics of these two martyrs do rest in the Basilica, however. They are depicted here with Domitilla, who used to be listed as a saint, but was removed due to a lack of historical evidence.
Sts. Nereus and Acheilleus, you were martyred for refusing to follow orders to kill Christians—pray for us!