20260508 COMMUNION IS THE KEY TO MISSION
8 May 2026, Friday, 5th Week of Easter
First reading | Acts 15:22-31 |
It has been decided by the Holy Spirit and by us not to burden you beyond these essentials
The apostles and elders decided to choose delegates to send to Antioch with Paul and Barnabas; the whole church concurred with this. They chose Judas known as Barsabbas and Silas, both leading men in the brotherhood, and gave them this letter to take with them:
‘The apostles and elders, your brothers, send greetings to the brothers of pagan birth in Antioch, Syria and Cilicia. We hear that some of our members have disturbed you with their demands and have unsettled your minds. They acted without any authority from us; and so we have decided unanimously to elect delegates and to send them to you with Barnabas and Paul, men we highly respect who have dedicated their lives to the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. Accordingly we are sending you Judas and Silas, who will confirm by word of mouth what we have written in this letter. It has been decided by the Holy Spirit and by ourselves not to saddle you with any burden beyond these essentials: you are to abstain from food sacrificed to idols; from blood, from the meat of strangled animals and from fornication. Avoid these, and you will do what is right. Farewell.’
The party left and went down to Antioch, where they summoned the whole community and delivered the letter. The community read it and were delighted with the encouragement it gave them.
Responsorial Psalm |
Psalm 56(57):8-12 |
I will thank you, Lord, among the peoples.
or
Alleluia!
My heart is ready, O God,
my heart is ready.
I will sing, I will sing your praise.
Awake, my soul,
awake, lyre and harp,
I will awake the dawn.
I will thank you, Lord, among the peoples.
or
Alleluia!
I will thank you, Lord, among the peoples,
among the nations I will praise you
for your love reaches to the heavens
and your truth to the skies.
O God, arise above the heavens;
may your glory shine on earth!
I will thank you, Lord, among the peoples.
or
Alleluia!
Gospel Acclamation | Jn10:27 |
Alleluia, alleluia!
The sheep that belong to me listen to my voice,
says the Lord,
I know them and they follow me.
Alleluia!
Or: | Jn15:15 |
Alleluia, alleluia!
I call you friends, says the Lord,
because I have made known to you
everything I have learnt from my Father.
Alleluia!
Gospel | John 15:12-17 |
What I command you is to love one another
Jesus said to his disciples:
‘This is my commandment:
love one another,
as I have loved you.
A man can have no greater love
than to lay down his life for his friends.
You are my friends,
if you do what I command you.
I shall not call you servants any more,
because a servant does not know
his master’s business;
I call you friends,
because I have made known to you
everything I have learnt from my Father.
You did not choose me:
no, I chose you;
and I commissioned you
to go out and to bear fruit,
fruit that will last;
and then the Father will give you
anything you ask him in my name.
What I command you is to love one another.’
COMMUNION IS THE KEY TO MISSION
SCRIPTURE READINGS: [ACTS 15:22-31; PS 57:8-12; JOHN 15:12-17]
How can we be effective witnesses of our Lord? In the Gospel of John 15, which is a continuation of the discourse after the Last Supper in John 13, Jesus was preparing the disciples for mission after He leaves this world. After washing the feet of His disciples, the Lord said to them, “Do you know what I have done to you? You call me Teacher and Lord, and you are right, for that is what I am. So if I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another’s feet. For I have set you an example, that you also should do as I have done to you.” (Jn 13:12-15)
Beginning on Wednesday, the Gospel reading is taken from John 15, which underscores the importance of communion with the Lord and His Body, the Church, for effective witnessing. In the parable of the Vine and the Branches, the Lord stressed the need for union with Him if we are to bear fruit. “Abide in me as I abide in you. Just as the branch cannot bear fruit by itself unless it abides in the vine, neither can you unless you abide in me. I am the vine, you are the branches. Those who abide in me and I in them bear much fruit, because apart from me you can do nothing.” (Jn 15:4f) This is why the foundation for mission is communion with the Lord.
But communion with the Lord must lead to communion with our brothers and sisters. Jesus said, “This is my commandment: love one another, as I have loved you. A man can have no greater love than to lay down his life for his friends. You are my friends, if you do what I command you.” If the foundation for mission is communion with the Lord, the corollary for carrying out the mission requires us to be in communion with our brothers and sisters. Our love for our brothers and sisters is another fundamental requirement for effective mission. Whilst it is true that only Christ can draw others to Himself, He is revealed through our love for one another. Earlier, the Lord said to His disciples, “I give you a new commandment, that you love one another. Just as I have loved you, you also should love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.” (Jn 13:34f)
But it is important to note that the love that Jesus speaks about is not the kind of love that the world understands as love. It is not simply the mutual love that we experience in human relationships. Such love alone does not satisfy the call to discipleship. Rather, our capacity to love must be the consequence of experiencing the love of God. This explains why John wrote, “We know love by this, that he laid down his life for us, and we ought to lay down our lives for one another.” (1 Jn 3:16) It is a call to divine love, a love that imitates our Lord. We are to love as He has loved us. And what does the love of our Lord consist in, if not the fact that He laid down His life for us? He did so eminently by His death on the cross for our salvation. There is no greater love that one can receive than the love of God expressed through the death of His Son. By dying for us, Jesus made us His friends because, through that action, He reconciles us with God.
Sacrifice is essential to genuine friendship and love. Verses 12-13 are a restatement of the “new commandment” given in John 13:34: “A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another.” The idea of sacrifice is found in the phrase, “as I have loved you,” for Christ loved us so much that he gave his life for us. The old commandment was to love God with everything in us, and our neighbour as ourselves. The story of the good Samaritan was Christ’s great explanation of that kind of love, and it is a wonderful love. But the new commandment requires us to love as Jesus loved. His sacrifice is our model. Jesus calls for sacrificial love in His Church. Our Lord exemplified this even before the cross. Just before He gave this new commandment, He tried in every way to restore Judas, even though He knew Judas was bent on betraying Him. He seated Judas next to Him, the place of honour. He dipped a morsel in wine and offered it to Judas, a customary offering of friendship. Christ was offering restoration. In John 15:12-13, our Lord officially made sacrifice an essential characteristic of love between believers, in imitation of His love for us.
But the friendship and love that the Lord offers us is more than His giving up His life for us. It is also found in His intimate self-revelation of His divine life to us. Jesus does not simply make us His friends in a nominal way, but truly regards us as His friends. The Lord said, “I shall not call you servants anymore, because a servant does not know his master’s business; I call you friends, because I have made known to you everything I have learnt from my Father.” Servants simply carry out the orders of their master. They do not know the deeper thoughts of their master. True friends do not simply help each other, but share one heart and mind. The evidence of true friendship is seen when we share our lives with one another. Jesus shares not just His life with us but also everything He learnt from His Father. Whenever true friendship exists, true disclosure and revelation accompany it. To be friends of our Lord, therefore, means that we are called to share the same privilege that Abraham and Moses had with God. Both of them were called friends of God. (2 Chron 20:7; Ex 33:11) To be given this title in the Bible is exceptional because it speaks of the highest possible relationship between God and a human being.
This friendship is also a gift, not an entitlement. It is not the result of our doing or of some merits we have earned. It is given to us gratuitously. Jesus chooses us freely. Being friends with the Lord should not create in us a sense of superiority over others. Friendship is always a grace. The Lord said, “You did not choose me: no, I chose you.” So if we are in union with the Lord and experience His friendship in our lives, we should be grateful and humble. To be friends of our Lord means that we share in His love and joy. Being intimate with the Lord enables us to be one with Him in everything we do and say. Friends transform each other. The Lord became our friend when He assumed our humanity. He understands our feelings and our struggles in life. This is why we can be sure that He will answer our prayers, because He loves us and wants us to be happy.
We carry this confidence in our prayers being answered because we pray in His name. Jesus said, “I call you friends, because I have made known to you everything I have learnt from my Father. I commissioned you to go out and to bear fruit, fruit that will last; and then the Father will give you anything you ask him in my name.” To pray in His name is to share the heart and mind of Jesus. Hence, whatever we ask for in prayer will always be in accordance with the mind of God and His wisdom. When our prayers are in union with Christ, they will always be answered, especially when they are prayers for the well-being of others. This is in keeping with His command, for the Lord added after asking us to pray in His name, “What I command you is to love one another.”
From being His friends, and from sharing His heart and mind, our mission flows. Being chosen is never for ourselves but for service. We are chosen not because of our talents and skills. That He has chosen us should encourage us. We go, not because we are worthy, equipped, attractive, skilled, experienced, or in any way suitable, or appropriate, but because we have been summoned and sent. Since He has called us, He will equip and enable us for our witness. As with Israel and the apostles, His choice of us is for the sake of service. We are chosen to go and bear fruit.
Finally, the quality of the fruit should also be noted. There are passing fruits and lasting fruits. Only fruit that honours God will last. When we are content with short-lived ‘fruit’; honour, glory, and pleasure without a change of lifestyle, we are merely worldly disciples. Then there are those who respond with a sudden burst of enthusiasm and then fall away, as the Parable of the Sower tells us. This is due to our fallen human nature. (Mt. 13:20-21; cf. Jn. 6:66). The fruit that honours God is the fruit that lasts and brings glory to the Father and the Son. These are the fruits of the Holy Spirit: joy, peace, love, generosity, kindness, longsuffering, and faithfulness. (Gal 5:22f) For such fruit, we should never hesitate to pray, trusting that “the Father will give you anything you ask him in my name. What I command you is to love one another.”
Best Practices for Using the Daily Scripture Reflections
- Encounter God through the spirit of prayer and the scripture by reflecting and praying the Word of God daily. The purpose is to bring you to prayer and to a deeper union with the Lord on the level of the heart.
- Daily reflections when archived will lead many to accumulate all the reflections of the week and pray in one sitting. This will compromise your capacity to enter deeply into the Word of God, as the tendency is to read for knowledge rather than a prayerful reading of the Word for the purpose of developing a personal and affective relationship with the Lord.
- It is more important to pray deeply, not read widely. The current reflections of the day would be more than sufficient for anyone who wants to pray deeply and be led into an intimacy with the Lord.
Note: You may share this reflection with someone. However, please note that reflections are not archived online nor will they be available via email request.
Written by His Eminence, Cardinal William SC Goh, Roman Catholic Archbishop of Singapore © All Rights Reserved.
