As Fr Paul is away this week for the Annual Clergy Retreat, we are revisiting his Gospel readings and reflections for the 5th Week of Easter last year. The 50 days of the Easter season are so important that the Church uses the same readings each year for this period (unless it is a Memorial, Feast or Solemnity). 

Gospel Reflection Friday (20 May) – 5th week of Easter – No greater Love
Fr Paul reads from John’s Gospel (15: 12-17) in which Jesus says to  his disciples, ‘I shall not call you call you servants anymore because a servant does not know his master’s business. I call you friends because I have made known to you everything I learned from my Father’. Today’s reading says Fr Paul, adds more dimensions to the love shared by Jesus and his Father; and the love shared by Jesus and his disciples.  The first of these is that it is a love of friendship not of subservience.  The second aspect is that Christ lays down his life for his friends. Christ laying down his life it was not only through obedience to his Father, but it was also an expression of his boundless love for his friends.  The third aspect is the openness of this friendship.  True friendship means there is an openness, a trust. We can have no secrets from Christ and he, in his turn, reveals all to us.Mindful of these dimensions of love, Fr Paul says we might ask ourselves, ‘Do I live out this commandment of Jesus to love?’