Resources referenced in today's 5th Sunday of Easter homily, with Fr. Brian Larkin:
Love & Commandment
If the love of God dwells inside of you, there is only one commandment.
"If you do not love, there are a thousand commandments. But, if you have love, there is only one."
Priest joke, if he were a bishop: John 15:14 would be his motto: You are my friends if you do what I command you." 🙂
John 14–16
Psalm 80: "I am the vine, you are the branches. Abide in me, and I in you."—Psalm 80 "You brought the vine out of Egypt."...verse 14, "Turn again, Lord God of hosts; have regard for this vine." In Psalm 80, the "vine" is Israel.
Isaiah 5
"There is a lot of evidence that the "Vine" was also a symbol of the Tree of Life in the Garden of Eden."—Fr. Brian Larkin
There is no life if we're not in Him.
1 John 3:14: 14 We know that we have passed from death to life because we love our brothers. Whoever does not love remains in death.i
If we love God and we love each other, we have life. If we do not, we abide in death.
An image to grasp from: Fiddler on the Roof: It will change your walk if you get this: "I'm asking you a question! Do you love me?
"You're a fool."
"I know. But, do you love me?"
"Do I love you? For 25 years, I have washed your clothes, I have cooked you meals. I have given you children, I have milked the cows. Why talk about love right now?"—How can you ask me if I love you? Look at what I do for you?
My Bride, my Immaculate Church: Do you love me?
Without love, we ask a million things: Why do we have to go to church every Sunday? Why do we reject contraception? Why do we believe marriage is between one man & one woman? Etc... once we grasp the concept of love, there is only one commandment; all else falls into place.
Balthasar: "If we fall away from love...if love cools, the glowing lava of its immense spontaneity hardens into the fixed and narrow molds of individual commandments, where love grows sluggish, law flourishes."
Let's be more like Mother Teresa, because her love is what wins hearts and souls; it wasn't her "rule book."
"No one who truly loves says, 'Jesus, I love you, so I don't have to worry about what you command me to do.' The most obedient people on earth are people who love. When you fall in love with someone, you give them everything you have. Love makes us obedient. So, someone who dismisses commandments does not fully understand love."—Fr. Brian
The other danger is thinking something else other than love will lead us to Christ. Often, we substitute a "system" for the love of God.
"But, do you love me?"—Jesus
Pruning the superfluous in our lives is important to make what matters flourish.
"The more the human heart withdraws from a multiplicity of objects, the more intensely it is drawn to one. In like manner, the more a man's soul is withdrawn from concern for temporal things, the more perfectly it will be drawn to the love of God."—Balthasar
"The hope of gaining or keeping material things is poison for love."—St. Augustine
"Cupidity & Charity" "St. Augustine says, "There is a war in your heart between those two loves." Charity is the divine love of God. "If you feed this love, you will kill the love of God in your soul.—St. Augustine "Cupiditas" & "Caritas"
Jesus, teach your Church to love, so that we may have your life.
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GREGORIAN RANT Podcast: https://open.spotify.com/show/4EzZkNxXB5CeyyRw4jGrTQ
