Daily Gospel Reflection
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May 14, 2025
Jesus said to his disciples:
“As the Father loves me, so I also love you.
Remain in my love.
If you keep my commandments, you will remain in my love,
just as I have kept my Father’s commandments
and remain in his love.
“I have told you this so that my joy might be in you
and your joy might be complete.
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.”
As a child, loving one another always seemed easy. Of course, it was easy to love my parents and siblings. But the love that Jesus describes, the love that he embodies, is, in fact, not easy. It is hard, challenging, and, at times, seemingly impossible.
This commandment was one of the first things I learned about Jesus, but it’s taken me decades to absorb the full weight of this commandment. We are called to love one another, but not only the people in our lives who are easy to love. We are called to love those who may be different from us, those who may have hurt us, and those who may not love us in return. Why? To be like Jesus and his love is the ultimate sacrifice.
We cannot make excuses for unloving behavior, whether resulting from our calloused indifference, habit of typecasting, or simple selfishness, when Christ has explicitly shown us how to live.
It was not until I became a parent that I began to fathom a love so immeasurable and unconditional. How much more is God’s love for us! As we reflect on today’s gospel, let us pray for God’s grace to live by Jesus’ example. Let us pray for the strength to love those who may be difficult to love. It is in such a sacrifice that we may experience “no greater love than this.”
Prayer
O God, you choose us this day to remain in your love as we encounter those we meet. Help us to grow in our ability to love others as fully as you have loved us in giving your life for us. Give us the patience and understanding we need to see the good in others, to see and love in them what you see and love in all of your children. We ask this through Christ our Lord. Amen.
Saint of the Day
St. Matthias was the man who was elected to replace Judas as the twelfth apostle after Jesus' Ascension.
Because Judas committed suicide, the Apostles found themselves lacking a twelfth member. The number twelve is important in the Hebrew and Christian Scriptures: Jesus had called Twelve Apostles because twelve was a Jewish number of wholeness, represented in the twelve tribes of Israel. It was important for the disciples to find someone to replace Judas.
They gathered after the ascension and had two candidates in mind—Joseph, also known as Barsabas, and Matthias. Both had come from the wider circle of 72 who had been following Jesus since his baptism by John. The disciples prayed, then cast lots; Matthias was chosen.
Soon after his election, Matthias received the Holy Spirit with the other disciples at Pentecost. He preached the good news of Jesus in Judea before going to other lands. Tradition tells of his travels among the Greeks, though the historical record is scant. It is said that he became a martyr for the faith when he was crucified by the people he was trying to convert there.
The relics of St. Matthias rest in the reliquary chapel in the Basilica.
St. Matthias, you were elected to replace Judas as the twelfth apostle after Jesus rose—pray for us!
Image Credit: Our featured image of St. Matthias is in the public domain. Last accessed March 6, 2025 on Wikimedia Commons.
