Community Word:Followers of the Risen Christ faithfully live His word.
Order: “Feed my lambs… tend my sheep… feed my sheep…”(Jn 21:15-17)
Reflection:
The Community Word for the Month of May is: Followers of the Risen Christ faithfully live His word. God’s word is our spiritual bread from which we draw strength and fervor in following His will. It is the source of Truth from where our faith is enliven and remains unshaken. As Christians, we are exhorted to read daily the word of God from the Holy Scriptures and allow it to inhabit our lives. We do this with reflection and understanding, in our day by day circumstance, be it in good or bad times. Jesus’ word should be engraved in our being so that people around us may see the Risen Christ in us. His word is the fire in our hearts that provides us the eagerness to serve Him more as we respond to His call to “Feed my lambs….tend my sheep…..feed my sheep,” (Jn 21: 15-17).
During the weeks after Easter, let us reflect on God’s word through the weekly themes:
The theme for the 3rd Sunday of Easter is: We are faithful to Christ’s word when we seek His will and follow His command. Our call to discipleship requires that we are faithful to the word of God and obedient to His command. Blessings will come upon us if we seek His will in everything that we say and do, including His answers to the desires of our hearts. Following Christ is a commitment, and therefore, we must pray for the grace of perseverance and fortitude so that we will be able to overcome discouragement and various difficulties in our mission. But Jesus is here all the time, by His Holy Spirit, to encourage us in His promise: “Cast the net over the right side of the boat and you will find something,” (Jn. 21:16).
We are faithful to Christ’s word when we serve in His vineyard and proclaim the Gospel to the lost – this is our theme for the 4th Sunday of Easter. It is the desire of Jesus that we serve the people around us, our family members, our community brethren, friends, and even strangers who need to be led to Him. Helping them in their problems and addressing their needs in any capacity we may have, is very pleasing to God. Jesus, the Good Shepherd, tells us that when He gathers His flock not one sheep is lost. There is gladness in Jesus’ heart when we proclaim the Good News to the lost and bring them to Jesus who is the Way, Truth and Life. Thus the promise of the Lord is fulfilled: “The Lamb….will shepherd them and lead them to the springs of life-giving waters,” (Rev 7:17).
Our theme for the 5th Sunday of Easter is: We are faithful to Christ’s word when we love one another as He has loved us. Jesus gave us a new commandment – “…love one another. Just as I have loved you, you also should love one another,” (Jn13:34). We are called to care for others in response to Christ’s unconditional love for us. Jesus wants us to love the underprivileged, the downtrodden and the voiceless, those who are struggling with discrimination, poverty and injustice. We are called to love even our enemies and those who have hurt us. What is really new about Jesus’ commandment is that we do it in imitation of the kind of love that Christ has shown us, His all-encompassing, unconditional love. Loving like Jesus is loving everyone with perfect love, the kind of love that will require a lot of self-sacrifice, humility, dying to self. But Jesus promised that when we are able to love and minister those who are in need “He will wipe every tear from their eyes…will make all things new,” (cf. Rev. 21:4-5).
Finally, the theme for the 6th Sunday of Easter is: We are faithful to Christ’s word when we share the peace of God. The peace that Christ gives is the calmness, the serenity of order within, no matter what is happening outside. None of us knows what lies ahead, but we do know the provision Jesus gives us to face the future. Because of His great love for us, God wants us to have an abundance of peace, joy, victory, finances, and everything else that He wants to fill our lives with. But God’s peace is not ours to keep but is meant to be shared. Thus we are exhorted to be bearers of the Good News and to love as Jesus loved. As Christians, we possess the peace of Christ and manifest that peace as His living witnesses to others because of His promise that, “The advocate the Holy Spirit….will teach you everything and remind you of all that I told you,” (Jn.14:26).
