I CALL YOU FRIENDS

Sixth Sunday of Easter

Is-Sitt Ħadd tal-Għid

Messalin'B' pp 299

           

Reading 1                   ACTS 10:25-26, 34-35, 44-48

When Peter entered, Cornelius met him and, falling at his feet, paid him homage. Peter, however, raised him up, saying, "Get up. I myself am also a human being." Then Peter proceeded to speak and said, "In truth, I see that God shows no  partiality. Rather, in every nation whoever fears him and acts uprightly is acceptable to him." While Peter was still speaking these things, the Holy Spirit fell upon all who were listening to the word. The circumcised believers who had accompanied Peter were astounded that the gift of the Holy Spirit should have been poured out on the Gentiles also, for they could hear them speaking in tongues and glorifying God. Then Peter responded, "Can anyone withhold the water for baptizing these people, who have received the Holy Spirit even as we have?" He ordered them to be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ. This is the Word of the Lord.

L-Ewwel Lezzjoni         Qari mill-Ktieb tal-Atti tal-Appostli 10, 25-26, 34-35, 44-48)

Xħin daħal Pietru fid-dar ta' Kornelju, dan mar jilqgħu u ntefa' f'riġlejh jagħtih qima.   Imma  Pietru qajmu u qallu:  "Qum.   Jien bniedem ukoll." Pietru qabad jitkellem u qal:  "Issa tassew qiegħed nifhem li Alla ma jħares lejn wiċċ ħadd, imma   jilqa' lil kull min għandu l-biża' tiegħu u jagħmel is-sewwa, ikun minn liema poplu jkun." Meta Pietru kien għadu qiegħed jgħid dan, l-Ispirtu s-Santu niżel fuq dawk kollha li kienu jisimgħuh. Dawk li kienu marru ma' Pietru, Lhud li kienu emmnu, stagħġbu kif Alla sawwab id-don tal-Ispirtu s-Santu  fuq il-pagani wkoll.   Għax semgħuhom jitkellmu bl-ilsna u jfaħhru l-kobor ta' Alla. Imbagħd Pietru qal:  "Jista' xi ħadd jiċħad l-ilma tal-magħmudija lil dawn in-nies, li ħadu l-Ispirtu s-Santu bħalma ħadnieh aħna wkoll?"    U ordna li jitgħammdu fl-isem ta' Kristu.  Imbagħad huma talbuh jibqa' għal ftit jiem magħhom. Il-Kelma tal-Mulej

Responsorial Psalm           PSALM 98:1, 2-3, 3-4

R. Alleluia.

Sing to the LORD a new song,

for he has done wondrous deeds;

His right hand has won victory for him,

his holy arm.                                                                 R.

The LORD has made his salvation known:

in the sight of the nations he has revealed his justice.

He has remembered his kindness and his faithfulness

toward the house of Israel.                                             R.

 All the ends of the earth have seen

the salvation by our God.

Sing joyfully to the LORD, all you lands;

break into song; sing praise.                                           R.

Salm Responsorjali                Salm 97 (98)

R/    Hallelujah.

Għannu lill-Mulej għanja ġdida,,

għax għamel  ħwejjeġ tal-għaġeb.

Ġibitlu r-rebħa l-leminija tieghu,

u d-driegħ imqaddes tiegħu.                    R/

Għarraf il-Mulej is-salvazzjoni tiegħu,

f'għajnejn il-ġnus wera l-ġustizzja tieghu.

Ftakar fit-tjieba u l-fedelta' tiegħu

mal-popolu ta' Iżrael.                             R/

L-art kollha, minn tarf għall-ieħor,

rat is-salvazzjoni ta' Alla tagħna.

Għajtu bil-ferħ lill-Mulej fl-art kollha,

infexxu fil-hena, ifirħu u għannu!     R/.

Reading 2                   1 JOHN 4:7-10

Beloved, let us love one another,  because love is of God; everyone who loves is begotten by God and knows God. Whoever is without love does not know God, for God is love. In this way the love of God was revealed to us: God sent his only Son into the world  so that we might have life through him. In this is love: not that we have loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as expiation for our sins. This is the Word of the Lord.

It-Tieni Lezzjoni         Qari lill-Ewwel Ittra ta' San Ġwann ,7-10                

Għeżież, ejjew inħobbu 'l xuxlin għax l-imħabba ġejja minn Alla, u kull min iħobb hu mwieled  minn Alla u jagħraf lil Alla.   dak li ma jħobbx ma għarafx lil Alla, għax Alla hu mħabba. B'dan dehret l-imħabba ta' Alla fina, għax Alla bagħat lil Ibnu l-waħdieni fid-dinja, biex ngħixu bih.  U hawn qiegħda  l-imħabba; mhux għax aħna  ħabbejna 'l Alla, imma għax ħabbna Hu u bagħat lil Ibnu biex ikun ta' tpattija għal dnubietna.  Il-Kelma tal-Mulej

Gospel                      JOHN 15:9-17

Jesus said to his disciples: "As the Father loves me, so I also love you. Remain in my love. If you keep my commandments, you will remain in my love, just as I have kept my Father's commandments and remain in his love. "I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and your joy might be complete. This is my commandment: love one another as I love you. No one has greater love than this, to lay down one's life for one's friends. You are my friends if you do what I command you. I no longer call you slaves, because a slave does not know what his master is doing. I have called you friends, because I have told you everything I have heard from my Father. It was not you who chose me, but I who chose you and appointed you to go and bear fruit that will remain, so that whatever you ask the Father in my name he may give you.  This I command you: love one another." This is the Word of the Lord.

Evanġelju        Qari skont San Ġwann 15, 9-17

F'dak iż-żmien, Ġesu' qal lid-dixxipli tiegħu: "Kif ħabbni Missieri, hekk ħabbejtkom jiena. Ibqgħu fl-imħabba tiegħi.  Jekk tħarsu  l-kmandamenti tiegħi, intom tibqgħu fi mħabbti, kif jiena ħarist il-kmandamenti ta' Missieri u qiegħed f'imħabbtu.   Għidtilkom dan biex  il-ferħ  tiegħi jkun fikom, u biex il-ferħ tagħkom ikun sħiħ. Dan hu l-kmandament tiegħi:  li tħobbu lil xulxin kif ħabbejtkom jien.   Ħadd ma għandu mħabba akbar minn din:  li wieħed jagħti ħajtu għal ħbiebu. Intom ħbiebi, jekk tagħmlu dak li jiena nikkmandakom. Ma nsejħilkomx aktar qaddejja, għax il-qaddej ma  jafx x'jagħmel sidu;  sejjaħtilkom ħbieb, għaliex kull ma smajt mingħand Missier jiena għarrafthulkom. Mhux intom  għażiltu lili,  imma jien għażilt lilkom, u ħtartkom biex tmorru tagħmlu l-frott u l-frott tagħkom jibqa', ħalli kulma titolbu lill-Missieri f'ismi,  huwa

jagħtihulkom.  Dan hu li qiegħed nikkmandakom: li tħobbu lil xulxin."  Il-Kelma tal-Mulej

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Commentary by Fr Thomas Rosica csb

Goodness and Friendship Through the Ages

On this Sixth Sunday of Easter, I wish to offer some reflections on the first reading from the Acts of the Apostles [10:25-26, 34-35, 44-48], and then some thoughts on friendship flowing from John's Gospel [15:9-17] and Cardinal Newman's teaching.

Christianity demands that the believer not only grasp intellectually the main tenets of the faith, but also act on them in daily life. The extraordinary story of Cornelius' conversion in Sunday's first reading certainly illustrates this message. It is the longest individual narrative in the Acts of the Apostles. The theme of this narrative is divine compulsion: Peter is the least prepared to accept Cornelius into the Christian community, and he even refuses to admit him two times.

Peter had to be converted before he could convert Cornelius. Peter came to the realization that God's gifts were given to all those who listened to the Word of God. His question "Can anyone forbid water for baptizing these people who have received the Holy Spirit just as we have?" [10:47] echoes the Ethiopian's question and Philip's response in the earlier story: "What is to prevent me from being baptized?" [8:36].

Peter's actions with Cornelius had far-reaching implications. Struck at once with the exceptional sincerity, hospitality and deep goodness of Cornelius and his household, Peter spontaneously exclaimed: "God has made it clear to me that no one should call anyone unclean or impure. God shows no partiality."

That statement broke centuries of customs, and even of theology, that Israel alone was God' s chosen people, separated from all other nations as God' s very own [cf. Deuteronomy 7:6-8; Exodus 19:5-6]. Peter had no choice but to baptize the household of Cornelius and he was criticized for his 'ecumenical' approach, but responded to his critics: "Who am I that I could withstand God?" [11:17]. When his critics heard these words, they were silenced and began to glorify God [11:18].

Paul, too, found the same spontaneous manifestation of the faith among the gentiles, and so made the exciting declaration: "We now turn to the Gentiles!" The controversy over the law was to linger for a long time, so that Paul dedicated to this topic his most comprehensive theological work: the Letter to the Romans.

Matter of the heart

For many years, I have looked to the life and writings of Cardinal John Henry Newman [1801-1890] as a brilliant model of friendship. Newman truly speaks heart-to-heart -- "cor ad cor loquitur" -- a phrase that he chose as his personal motto. There was nothing superficial about Newman's way of relating to so many different people. He looked at them and loved them for who they were.

Since the beloved English Cardinal's beatification is said to be imminent, let us consider for a moment some of Newman's understanding of friendship. Cardinal Newman had a great appreciation for the nobility of human virtues as evidenced in the literature and history of ancient Rome and Greece. At the same time the saints that he most admired -- St. Paul, the ancient Church Fathers, his spiritual father St. Philip Neri, and St. Francis De Sales -- could all be described as humanly attractive.

Newman had an extraordinary capacity and gift for friendship, which often translated into leadership. No one could describe Cardinal Newman as extroverted or light-hearted. We need only to glance at the many volumes of his letters and diaries, or look at the index of names in his autobiographical works, to see that he shared deep friendships with hundreds of people throughout his life. This personal influence has been exerted very powerfully upon millions of people who have read his works and discovered what friendship really means.

Authenticity

I could not write about friendship without passing along a warning to countless women and men who search for it every day. The great popularity of online social networking sites such as MySpace and Facebook merits careful attention, reflection and scrutiny. It has been said that if Facebook were a country, it would be the eighth most populated nation worldwide!

We must carefully ask several questions: What is it doing for us?

These tools help to bring people together and improve social networks. For example, homebound, infirm, chronically ill and elderly people can connect with a community of others in the same situation and new bonds of solidarity are born.

But there are also related questions: What is it doing to us? What is it doing to our sense of social boundaries? To our sense of individuality? To our friendships?

Friendship in these virtual spaces is quite different from real time friendship. Friendship is a relationship that involves the sharing of mutual interests, reciprocity, trust, and the revelation of intimate details over time and within specific contexts. True friendship depends on mutual revelations, and can only flourish within the boundaries of privacy and modesty.

On social networking sites, however, there is a concept of public friendship which is not the friendship spoken of by Jesus in the Gospel, nor Benedict XVI in his wonderful writings, nor Cardinal Newman in his letters. The distance and abstraction of our online friendships and online relationships can lead to a kind of systemic desensitization as a culture if we are not wise, prudent and attentive to these new realities.

We expose everything, but are we feeling anything?  Such friendships, or rather acquaintances, are quite different from the "cor ad cor loquitur" so ardently desired and experienced by Jesus with his disciples, or by an impetuous Peter, a Roman official named Cornelius, and a British Cardinal named John Henry  who have modeled their lives on the Good Shepherd and faithful friend to every human being.

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