Friday of the 9th Week in Ordinary Time
St. Kateri School Mass
Readings of the day (alternate readings for Mass with children): 1 John 3:1, 23; Psalm 34; John 15:12-15
St. Kateri School Mass
Readings of the day (alternate readings for Mass with children): 1 John 3:1, 23; Psalm 34; John 15:12-15
Is anybody here a bit sad that this is the last St. Kateri School Mass of the year? I am, just a bit, because I love being with you, our St. Kateri children; parents; teachers; staff… I’ll miss you when you’re not at school every day; when I’m not at the front door of our school to greet you almost every day!
But then how many of you love summer? What are some of the things you love most about summer?
Our readings today speak to us about love. What is love? First, who loves us so much that he calls us his own children? God loves us so much “that he lets us be called his children, as we truly are.” This is what we hear in our first reading today, from the first letter of John. Isn’t it pretty amazing that God loves us as our parents love you, their children, only more?
God could just sit up in heaven, all-powerful, and say, “I made the earth; the universe; all things and living beings in it. There you go; you’re on your own”! But God doesn’t do this. Why? God wants to be part of our lives; to be the very center of our lives because God loves us. And what did God do for us; whom did God send us to show God’s love for us? God has sent us his own Son, Jesus Christ, who lived among us and gave his life for us on a Cross and then rose again so that we could always be with the God who loves us, now and in heaven.
But there is one thing that God, who loves us more than we can even imagine, asks of us. What does God ask of us? God asks that we love one another, not only when we want to, or when the people we are asked to love are nice to us, but all the time. “God wants us to have faith in his Son Jesus Christ”; to believe that Jesus is God (and also human, like us) and loves us, “and to love one another. This is also what Jesus taught us to do,” we hear today from the first letter of John.
Is it easy to love each other? Is it easy to love, especially when others are unkind to us or irritate us? Love is often not easy. And Jesus doesn’t pretend that it is when he asks us to love one another as he loves us, as “friends,” in today’s Gospel reading.
Does anybody here remember what Jesus says in our Gospel reading is “the greatest way to show love for friends”? Jesus says, “the greatest way to show love for friends is to die for them.” This is not only difficult, but isn’t the thought of dying for somebody, even somebody good, a bit scary? This is scary to me! We know that Jesus died for us but, well, he’s God. Are we supposed to show our love exactly as Jesus says, by dying for one another? Well, yes and no.
I don’t think that Jesus means that, if we don’t literally give up our life for another person, we don’t love enough. But we can give up ourselves, our selfishness, in many little ways and so show that we love one another. We can be kind and patient with each other even when we don’t feel like it, when we’re tired, or have had a bad day. We can smile. One of the beautiful ways we show we love and care for one another we do every day here at St. Kateri. What is this way in which we show love for one another as friends? I think it’s when we hold the door open for the next person who is entering our school after us. Even if we want to run ahead, Sr. Kay sometimes reminds us, out of love and care for each other we look back to see if anybody is entering the school after us. And we hold the door for her or him. Imagine this as our practice for heaven. Only, when we get to heaven, we don’t know who will be following after us. Still, look back and hold the door open. As small an action as this is, it shows love. It is “giving up” of ourselves for another person, as Jesus asks us. And more people will get into heaven the more we love; the more we hold doors open.
I have one more story. It’s about St. Boniface, whose special day the Church celebrates today. St. Boniface lived hundreds of years ago in what is now Germany. Boniface showed love for the people among whom he lived, usually in small ways. Boniface was made a bishop of an area on the edge of what was then the Roman Empire; an area with very few people who believed in Jesus. So Boniface tried to convince the people there to believe that Jesus is God. There was a tree in his town that the people believed was protected by their god, Thor (the big strong god with the hammer!). If Boniface cut down the tree and built a church out of its wood and Thor didn’t kill him, the people said, they would believe Boniface that Jesus is God. So Boniface cut down the tree and built a church from its wood. Boniface survived, so the people believed him: Jesus is really God! And the people believed Boniface even more because he showed them the love of Jesus; of God by his patience; his service to them until he died to protect their town.
“Now I tell you to love one another,” Jesus says. This is Jesus’ example. This was the example of St. Boniface. This, children of God (“as we truly are,” says the first letter of John), is our example: If only in little ways; if only in holding doors open, love one another as God; as Jesus loves us.
But then how many of you love summer? What are some of the things you love most about summer?
Our readings today speak to us about love. What is love? First, who loves us so much that he calls us his own children? God loves us so much “that he lets us be called his children, as we truly are.” This is what we hear in our first reading today, from the first letter of John. Isn’t it pretty amazing that God loves us as our parents love you, their children, only more?
God could just sit up in heaven, all-powerful, and say, “I made the earth; the universe; all things and living beings in it. There you go; you’re on your own”! But God doesn’t do this. Why? God wants to be part of our lives; to be the very center of our lives because God loves us. And what did God do for us; whom did God send us to show God’s love for us? God has sent us his own Son, Jesus Christ, who lived among us and gave his life for us on a Cross and then rose again so that we could always be with the God who loves us, now and in heaven.
But there is one thing that God, who loves us more than we can even imagine, asks of us. What does God ask of us? God asks that we love one another, not only when we want to, or when the people we are asked to love are nice to us, but all the time. “God wants us to have faith in his Son Jesus Christ”; to believe that Jesus is God (and also human, like us) and loves us, “and to love one another. This is also what Jesus taught us to do,” we hear today from the first letter of John.
Is it easy to love each other? Is it easy to love, especially when others are unkind to us or irritate us? Love is often not easy. And Jesus doesn’t pretend that it is when he asks us to love one another as he loves us, as “friends,” in today’s Gospel reading.
Does anybody here remember what Jesus says in our Gospel reading is “the greatest way to show love for friends”? Jesus says, “the greatest way to show love for friends is to die for them.” This is not only difficult, but isn’t the thought of dying for somebody, even somebody good, a bit scary? This is scary to me! We know that Jesus died for us but, well, he’s God. Are we supposed to show our love exactly as Jesus says, by dying for one another? Well, yes and no.
I don’t think that Jesus means that, if we don’t literally give up our life for another person, we don’t love enough. But we can give up ourselves, our selfishness, in many little ways and so show that we love one another. We can be kind and patient with each other even when we don’t feel like it, when we’re tired, or have had a bad day. We can smile. One of the beautiful ways we show we love and care for one another we do every day here at St. Kateri. What is this way in which we show love for one another as friends? I think it’s when we hold the door open for the next person who is entering our school after us. Even if we want to run ahead, Sr. Kay sometimes reminds us, out of love and care for each other we look back to see if anybody is entering the school after us. And we hold the door for her or him. Imagine this as our practice for heaven. Only, when we get to heaven, we don’t know who will be following after us. Still, look back and hold the door open. As small an action as this is, it shows love. It is “giving up” of ourselves for another person, as Jesus asks us. And more people will get into heaven the more we love; the more we hold doors open.
I have one more story. It’s about St. Boniface, whose special day the Church celebrates today. St. Boniface lived hundreds of years ago in what is now Germany. Boniface showed love for the people among whom he lived, usually in small ways. Boniface was made a bishop of an area on the edge of what was then the Roman Empire; an area with very few people who believed in Jesus. So Boniface tried to convince the people there to believe that Jesus is God. There was a tree in his town that the people believed was protected by their god, Thor (the big strong god with the hammer!). If Boniface cut down the tree and built a church out of its wood and Thor didn’t kill him, the people said, they would believe Boniface that Jesus is God. So Boniface cut down the tree and built a church from its wood. Boniface survived, so the people believed him: Jesus is really God! And the people believed Boniface even more because he showed them the love of Jesus; of God by his patience; his service to them until he died to protect their town.
“Now I tell you to love one another,” Jesus says. This is Jesus’ example. This was the example of St. Boniface. This, children of God (“as we truly are,” says the first letter of John), is our example: If only in little ways; if only in holding doors open, love one another as God; as Jesus loves us.
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