Brothers and sisters, I welcome you to the table of God’s word on this 5th Sunday of Easter in which we continue to glorify the risen Christ. Slowly but surely, Christ approaches his Ascension into heaven.In today’s first reading, Paul encourages us to remain faithful in our missions as disciples of Jesus Christ.Through the vision of John in the second reading, God gives us a glimpse of that kingdom that Paul spoke of in our first reading. And the gospel, Christ gives us a new commandment that will help us to overcome this world and march into the New Jerusalem.
Jesus invites us to love one another in our complex world, too. Complex because good and evil are being mixed and mingled together. We often feel tempted to look at our world as our misfortune, as a piece of bad news, whereas we Christians, instead, are responsible for bringing out, to this violent and unfair world, the Good News of Jesus Christ. As we show love to others, the way Jesus had showed us; sacrificial, forgiven and selfless love, may his abiding presence never depart from us. Amen.