Homily - 5-2-10 8 a.m. & 10 a.m. - Our Lady of Good Counsel

HOMILY 5-2-10
8 a.m. and 10 a.m.
Our Lady of Good Counsel
Deacon Tim Sullivan

In today’s Gospel (Jn 13:31-33a, 34-35) Jesus tells his disciples that he is giving them a new commandment to love one another as he has loved them. If you search all of the versions of the Gospel, no where will you find that Jesus ever made a suggestion. He gave commands. He didn’t say, love one another as long as you get along with them or if you like them. He was very definite…love one another as he loved them (and as he loves us). On this, Jesus didn’t give us any “wiggle room”. This scene in the Gospel takes place after the Last Supper and after Jesus has washed the feet of the Apostles. We should remember that Jesus washed the feet of Judas also at the Last Supper. Keeping this in mind, when he told us to love one another he didn’t say that we had to like everyone. I imagine Jesus didn’t really like Judas that much knowing that he was going to betray him and turn him over to be tortured and killed by crucifixion. I imagine that Jesus didn’t like Peter’s actions of denying him three times. I also have a feeling that he didn’t like Pilate that much, remembering that Pilate is the one who condemned him to be scourged and crucified. He might not have liked these people but he loved them. He calls us to do no less.
This love was a totally selfless; ask nothing in return type of love. This love that Jesus had for us (including Judas and Peter and Pilate) is the same love that he commanded that we each have for each other.
This love isn’t that warm fuzzy feeling you get from someone. Rather it’s the visible act that shows our relationship with each other as sons and daughters of God. It’s the abandonment of self and the realization that each and every one e of us is special in God’s eyes and therefore should be special in our eyes. We are all family, we are all brothers and sisters. This love that we are called to have is manifested by wishing the absolute best for someone, and the best thing that we can hope for is that they gain eternal salvation and their eventual place in heaven. The way we can do this, especially if we don’t know the person or if we’re having problems with the person is to pray for them.
This “praying for them” isn’t always an easy task. Watching the reviews for the movie out
about Jack Kavorkian I was reminded that when he was at his height of activity, I knew I should
pray for him…so I did. I would pray, Father, I’d like to pray for Jack Kavorkian (and then add) but
you know I don’t mean it. I prayed like that for several years. Then one day while I was praying, I
remember saying “and I want to pray for Jack Kavorkian” and I actually meant it. A harder
situation arose when my youngest daughter was about five years old. Someone tried to abduct her from in front of our house. I was reminded how hard this is when I was talking to a person several years ago. They said that someone had done something very bad against someone in their family and that they couldn’t forgive them. I told them that it might be helpful to pray for them. Their response was “oh I do pray for them, I pray that they die the most horrible, painful, lingering death possible. This person was probably one of the scariest people I have ever met…they had no peace. In effect, they were spiritually and emotionally dead.
One of the biggest aspects of love is forgiveness. There are times when we just have to forgive. The last part of the story about my daughter is that she wasn’t abducted but having the description of the car and of the individual I looked for them for three days. It was only by the grace of God that I didn’t find them. It’s taken me over 21 years to bring myself to pray for that person…and it’s still hard.
After the 8:00 a.m. Mass, something happened as we were processing out. Fr. John looked at me and said “I think God just called your bluff.” To truly be called Christians, followers of Christ we have to love and have to be able to forgive, no matter who the person is, no matter what they’ve done and no matter how much they have impacted us.