As we enter into the Sixth Sunday of this Easter Season and being only 15 days away from Pentecost Sunday—the birthday of the Church—we consider the meaning of the first Pentecost, when the Holy Spirit was given to the Church (and the world) by God the Father to provide us with ALL TRUTHS and guide us to those truths, so that we can successful make our spiritual journey to deepen our Christian faith.

Our journey in faith is dependent upon how we accept and use the gifts of the Holy Spirit, unmerited as they are, and the Holy Spirit which itself is pure LOVE. The Church understands that the love between the Father and the Son, which is the Holy Spirit, is the fullness of Eros, one of the loves which writer C.S. Lewis writes about in his book entitled, The Four Loves. The Church says we are not to view Eros in the secular world understands--as sexual love or desire, nor as ancient Rome did as the son of Aphrodite, a Roman equivalent of today’s Cupid.

Rather, C. S. Lewis and the Church view Eros as a love that desires the excellence for the other person. This love is conveyed by the Holy Spirit which brings us to recognize all truth in our right relationships with God and those around us. This weekend the Gospel of John once again speaks to us of God’s Love for each one of us and how that gift is intended to transform our human love for others, and how we are then called to share that love with others.

In John 15:9-17, which is part of the Last Supper Discourse, we hear Jesus identify “God’s Love for us” as a major theme among many other themes found in today’s Scripture, and how this Godly Love is identified—or rather expresses itself—in four ways: (1) Love reveals—Jesus was sent by God to reveal God to the world; (2) Love chooses—Jesus choose who would be seated around the Last Supper’s table; (3) Love serves—Jesus washed the feet of His disciples and calls all who follow Him—all of us—to repeat this self-emptying love to others; and, (4) Love
sacrifices—“No one has greater love than this, to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.” (John 15:13).

These expressions or showings of Love can be accomplished in-and-through the various ministries of the Church, both here at Saint Catherine of Siena and in the greater Church of the Archdiocese as well as through ministries in participation in the Archbishop’s Annual Appeal. As well, people can and do express this excellence of Love in families and many other community activities.

I would like to highlight one such expression of this desire for the “other’s Excellence” which happened at our recent Confirmation ceremony. Our parish is blessed by our young Confirmands, some of whom have special needs. It was heartwarming to see other candidates step in and assist them before, during and after the Mass. By doing so, they were comfortable and engaged in their Confirmation class and able to experience the power of this Sacrament. Those who aided them wanted only the best--and the same--as everyone else in-volved.

By God, Love accomplishes everything—all that is or has been done will come to be. As we travel on our faith journey we must ask ourselves the question of just how we will engage God’s Love in-and-through our own lives. Will we be like Christ and reveal (witnesses) our faith to others? Will we choose ways to carry that love into the world and share it with another? Will we use Love to serve another in need, to step out of the “self” and into the bigger picture of humanity, even when it is less comfortable? Will we sacrifice and seek to express the gift of Love already given to us by God by expressing this Love in the form of Eros—seeking only