Wednesday May 14, 2008: Acts 1:15-17, 20-26; John 15:9-17

Jesus Christ in today’s gospel emphasizes love as the greatest commandment of Christianity. He presents himself as an example of this love. As the Father has loved him, so has he loved us. Jesus goes on to give us the greatest challenge of our Christian faith, “No one has greater love than this, to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.” The challenge here is that Jesus Christ laid down his life for his enemies. St. Paul tells us that Christ died for us while we were still yet in sin. Sin makes us an enemy of Jesus Christ. If we are going to be Christ-like, we must do the same thing that he did, love our enemies. This is not an easy thing to do. We sometimes even find it difficult to love our friends. Judas sold Jesus Christ who was supposed to be his friend. Mathias is chosen to take the place of Judas whose selfishness led him away from the love of Jesus Christ. Mathias is called like every one of us to enter into this fellowship of love with Jesus and the Father.