Reading and meditation on the Word of God on Friday of the fifth week of Easter, May 8th, 2026

Delivered by Amelia from the Parish of Saint Francis Xavier in the Archdiocese of Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Acts of the Apostles 15: 22-31; Rs psalm 57: 8-9.10-12; John 15: 12-17.IN LOVE AND FOR LOVE Our meditation today has the theme: In Love and forLove. The idea behind this sentence is actually about the fact that God had created us out of love. God designed themarriage of our parents, from which each of us born through the womb of our ownmothers, then eventually we came to the world and have a life to embrace tillnow. This truth shows that every human person is brought to life in love andwith love.  This Life exists because of love. It is the love thatbrought us into the world, and that love is no other than God. The 1stLetter of John (1 John 4, 8) testifies that God is love, Deus caritas est. Moreover, love is the fruit of our Christian lifeor the manifestation of our faith. That is why, Jesus himself summarized alllaws into only one law, which is the supreme law of love. The commandment oflove leads us to love God and our neighbors as well. The Lord Jesus assures usto be always connected to Him as the true vine, for we are all the branches, sothat we will not be separtated from this love. The Lord Jesus has a model of the greatest love toteach us and to draw us to follow that love, which is His own sacrifice, dyingon the cross, for our salvation. This greatest love was already passed on to usand now is in our hands, in our hearts, and our faith. It is our duty andresponsibility to implement the spirit of sacrifice of self according to one'sown vocation and context, with the same goal which is the salvation of souls. So, our life in and for love stands on the solidfoundation of our union with Jesus Christ as the source of life. There are atleast four points to explain this truth. The first point is God had poured Hislove into our hearts. This occured for the first time at baptism, then follewedby the word of God preached, the blessings conferred, and the loving mercyshared that we receive gratuitously every day. The early church in Antioch wastruly filled with this unceasing outpouring of God's love through the words andteachings preached and shared. The second point is Jesus Himself treats us asfriends, and not as servants. In this friendship, He teaches and gives usexamples of how to love with our whole hearts or in a radical way. The thirdone is the commitment of the renunciation of self and death. Every true act oflove conceives an expression of sacrifice and this means that he mustexperience death of himself, that can be partly and can be also the whole. If we are ready for ordinary or simple acts of love,we are in a sense preparing ourselves to die for the bigger or greater acts oflove we might do. And the fourth point is that our love will only be the trueone if it is known by the fruits produced to benefit ourselves and others aswell. For example, if I am happy to welcome with smile and warm greeting the guests who cometo my house, for sure they will be happy and honored. We become friends. Theseare the fruits of love. Because when love does not gives any fruits, it's a lieand denial. Let'spray. In the name of the Father ... Lord Jesus Christ, as You teach us Your ownexample of the true love, make us always remain in Your love and continue tolove without counting the cost. Hail Mary, full of grace ... In the name of theFather ...