Dear Friends,
Today we celebrate Mother’s Day. I would like to thank all mothers, sisters, aunts, grand-mothers, coaches, and guardians for the endless sacrifices you accept in your mission of raising and caring for all under your responsibilities. You are the first advisors we ever have on this journey of life. We celebrate you and we lift you all up in our prayers.
In today’s gospel reading, Jesus insists on the relationship between love and his commandments. This seems redundant because his commandments are summarized in love of God and love of neighbor. This insistence reminds us that by ourselves there is nothing we can do. It is only when we open our heart to the Holy Spirit that we can truly live up the commandments. The new life we have in Christ is life in the Holy Spirit. This means for us that, like Paul, we are meant to bear in our minds the truth that “it is no longer I who live but Christ living in me.” And if Christ lives in me, I become a vessel that carries the love and mercy of Christ to the world.
The Holy Spirit Jesus promises has the responsibility to teach us everything and the afford us discernment in our decision making. We are strengthened by the Spirit to be vessels that carry God’s love in all that we say and do. To be led by the Holy Spirit is to always strive to demonstrate a life of virtue that springs out of the Holy Spirit. When Jesus tells his disciples that they know the Spirit, he reminds them that they are already trained and pruned. What remains is to bear fruit.
You and I have been trained, taught and nourished by Christ in this Eucharistic celebration. Christ has revealed himself to us a true Bread of Life. On our part, we are invited to bear the fruits of the Holy Spirit which make us grow as well as committed to serving the Lord through our service to one another.
And let us continue to pray for one another and for our parish family.
Happy Mother’s Day!
Fr. Emery