A Commentary and Reflection on the Readings for the Sixth Sunday of Easter – Year B. The Liturgical Sense of the Scriptures Podcast, by Catholic Author and Theologian David L. Gray. READINGS: Acts 10:25-26, 34-35, 44-48, 1 John 4:7-10, John 15:9-17.
The Liturgy of the Catholic Mass Inspires Us to Love Without Barriers
With unwavering fidelity, we must all accept one truth about this life. The truth is this: we were created by love and for love, and He who created us for love expresses His calling on our life to be agents of love through the gift of freedom. For our part, we rightly use our gift of freedom by using all of mind, body, soul, and strength to love God, our author, in worship and service of the good.
Today’s First Reading from Acts 10:25-26, 34-35, 44-48 for the Sixth Sunday of Easter – Year B needs to be prefaced with a reminder of how pivotal Peter’s encounter with Cornelius, a Roman centurion and a devout man who feared God, was. Despite Cornelius’ high standing in Roman society, his reverence for God, almsgiving, and deep prayer life, he was still a Gentile and, thereby, outside the covenant community of Israel. However, “a man in dazzling robes” visited him and commanded him to summon Peter to his home. The sending for Peter, who was about forty miles away in Joppa at the time, was precipitated by Peter’s own divine vision of a sheet filled with unclean animals and a command from God to eat them. Altogether, this dual move of God upon the heart of Cornelius and the sensibilities of Peter became a transformative moment not only for Cornelius but also for Peter and the early Catholic Church because it challenged the Jewish dietary laws and symbolized the breaking down of religious, cultural, and political barriers between Jews and Gentiles.
While giving a sermon in which he interpreted his vision to mean that “God shows no partiality,” the text says that “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.” This confirming event led to the official acceptance of Gentiles into the Christian faith without the requirement of adopting prerequisite Jewish traditions. Thus, on this day, a new understanding of the mission to spread the good news was won.
Acts Chapter 10, therefore, is a testament to the universal scope of God’s plan for salvation and the inclusivity of the Christian message, emphasizing that faith in Jesus Christ, the Sacrament of Baptism, and the receiving of the Holy Spirit are the unifying factors for all believers. This chapter sets the stage for the missionary journeys that would spread Christianity across the Roman Empire and ultimately throughout the world, fulfilling Jesus’ command to be witnesses “to the ends of the earth.”[1] Acts Chapter 10 also serves as a reminder of the transformative power of the Holy Spirit and the importance of obedience to God’s revelations, which can lead to groundbreaking changes in personal beliefs and cultural norms. Moreover, it underscores the truth that God’s love and salvation are for all and for all without barriers.
It should be emphasized here that Peter’s teaching that “God shows no partiality. Rather, in every nation whoever fears him and acts uprightly is acceptable to him” is not meant as an excuse to reject the exceptionalism of the Catholic Church on which Jesus established Peter as the cephas (rock/peter); as to say that one does not have to be Catholic; just fear God, love neighbor and act uprightly. On the contrary, it is an affirmation that God leads those in every nation who are like Cornelius to Peter and the Catholic Church on which Jesus established him cephas. That is to say, that loving God only leads in one direction, which is to His Son who was sent in the intention of love, or as the Second Reading from 1 John 4:7-10 teaches, “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.” The life that we have through Him is not just a life of ascension in our earthly pilgrimage but an eternal life we have been gifted to partake in through the Sacrament of the Holy Eucharist, which Jesus teaches, “Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him on the last day.” Truly, if we become like who we eat, the same power that raised Jesus from death will raise those who have become like Him through eating Him.
Through the liturgy of the Catholic Mass, the demonstration of how divine love is intimately intertwined with divine sacrifice is consistently being taught to us as a lesson and a reminder of the love that we are being called to share, without partiality or barriers, with all those who are made in the imago Dei. As Jesus commands in today’s Gospel Reading from John 15:9-17, “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.” Indeed, loving God in worship and service of the good may at times challenge us to go places that we might find to be ugly, dangerous, or costly, but if we find ourselves setting up barriers to prevent us from worshiping and serving God freely, we have, thereby, stifled gift of the Holy Spirit from living through us and we have mocked Jesus, the Holy Eucharist, for desiring to become one with us.
This is just one way how the readings at Mass this Sunday connect to the liturgy and how the liturgy is forming us how to live our lives in the world. Be in the world what you have received through the liturgy.
[1] Matthew 28:19, Acts 1:8.
