Think about how a stream flows from one end and spread downwards, watering and wetting the ground, sustaining fishes and keeping the trees fresh! This is how love flows. Love does not come equally and simultaneously in two people. Often times, it ignites in one and may grow deeper in the other. That is why it is practically impossible for two people to love each other equally and at the same pace. That is why the person you love may be busy loving someone else! Though love flows like a stream, it has one source.
“God is love” (1 Jn 4:8). Jesus said in the gospel of today, “As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you; abide in my love.” God is the source of love; the love of God flowed down to us through Jesus Christ. For God loved us first and sent His Son, as an atoning sacrifice for our sins (1 Jn 4:9-10). Thus, from Jesus, the Trinitarian love flowed to us. So if we abide in Jesus, we shall receive constant flow of love; the streams of love, the ocean of mercy and fountain of life flowing from His wounded side shall be poured into our hearts. Our individual responsibility, therefore, is to open up ourselves and allow the streams of love from Jesus to flow into us by abiding in Him.
How do we abide in Him? “If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commandments and abide in His love.” That means by keeping the commandments, especially the commandment of love, we are connecting ourselves to the streams of love in Christ Jesus. Our preoccupation in this regard to ensure we are in line with God’s commandments, then love comes to us as a free gift. That was why the apostles and elders convoked the first Church council to ensure that they were acting according to the will of God. Like the apostles, we often face the temptation to derail by creating human patterns of love and worship that end being burdens on us and others.
The streams of divine love that flows freely from Jesus Christ to us sets us free and fills us with joy. “These things I have spoken to you, that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be full.” Amen.
Fr Jude Chinwenwa Nwachukwu, C.Ss.R
Saints Peter & Paul Catholic Church,
Tedi-Muwo, Lagos.
Thursday May 6th, 2021.
Memorial of St Dominic Savio
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