Fifth Sunday of Easter - Year C - 2nd May 2010

A Fresh Start

They'II know we are Christians by our love.

Christianity can be summed up in one word: love. Love involves the heart and mind. It is based on our feelings which come from the heart, and also on our actions which we must decide to do. In fact many of the loving things we do in our everyday lives are the result of the decisions we make, rather than our feelings. And so love is as much about what we do, as it is about the way we feel. Ultimately, love is about action.

So many things conspire to paralyse us from loving one other and we tend to sit back fearful of the evil all round us. "For evil to thrive all that is needed is for good people to do nothing". It is only by love that we will overcome evil. We know we should be out doing good, but we are too tired, or too dispirited.

The apostle Paul was filled with a compassionate love for the communities he formed. We find him giving them a "fresh heart" and gently encouraging them to persevere. Like those people we could do with a 'fresh heart.'

Think for a moment about what a "fresh heart" could do for you, and through you, what it might do for others. "Fresh hearts" means a call to action. It doesn't ask for a new or elaborate strategy, but the will to take the first small step in reaching out to another.

Love one another, as I have loved you is what Jesus asks of us. But we hesitate. How can we love others unconditionally, especially our enemies and those who have hurt us? We cannot do it by our own efforts but only through the power of Christ's cross and resurrection, through which we have access to God's grace and mercy.

As we turn to Him with trust, He transforms our hearts and frees us to love others, especially the poor and those in need.

Do not rest content with doing good, but do it in the way God wishes, that is to say, as perfectly as you can, making yourselves worthy Servants of the poor. (St. Vincent de Paul)