Mystagogy is the period after baptism where the Neophytes journey with other Catholics and catechists to unpack the mystery that was celebrated at the Easter Vigil. It is a precious time where the Holy Spirit keeps the fire burning within the newly baptized on the road of life.

I bring this up because today we look back. We unpack the mystery of holy week. The passage from the Gospel is taken from John’s Last Supper account.

This is out-of-sequence reading is a reminder that the liturgy is not meant to be a chronological account of events in the life of Jesus. It is almost as if we go in concentric circles through the life of the Risen Christ. Looking forward, looking back, and looking within the life of Christ grafted into our lives at Baptism. In addressing this out-of-sequence reading, Abbot Jeremy says:

This is another indication that the liturgy does not present us with a simple historical and chronological story; Jesus’ words pronounced in the intensity of a particular historical setting in fact expand beyond that immediate context and unite all the dimensions of the Paschal Mystery, before they were said and after (Driscoll 121).

Today’s gospel is focused on Jesus’ command: love one another as I have loved you. Here is the passage:

When Judas had left them, Jesus said, “Now is the Son of Man glorified, and God is glorified in him. If God is glorified in him, God will also glorify him in himself, and God will glorify him at once. My children, I will be with you only a little while longer. I give you a new commandment: love one another. As I have loved you, so you also should love one another. This is how all will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.”

Let’s be frank. Love is difficult. To love others is a commitment that often carries with it disappointments and unrealistic goals. Yet, love is also the great adventure of life. True life giving love is found in the love of God.

We must learn from the school of love in three ways: The triune life of God, encountering the cross, and loving neighbor.

First, we find love in God. John tells us that God is love. God does not only love us, but his essence and nature is love itself. The Trinity is a communion of love and we are invited into that communion.

Second, the cross of Jesus reveals this dynamic and life-giving love. The cross is the surprising revelation of God’s love. Immensely surprising is this love that our hearts are pierced and moved to return this love with our frail hearts. Saint Paul speaks on the message of the cross to the people of Corinth. He says, “The message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God” (1 Corinthians 1:18). This hidden and fully disclosed mystery of the cross is God’s full revelation of love for “God proves his love for us in that while we were still sinners Christ died for us” (Romans 5:8). As we gaze our eyes upon the Crucified one we come to the full realization that Christ loved me and gave himself up for me (Ephesians 5:2).

We need the crucifix present before our eyes. It dispels the false notions of God as a God of anger, exclusion, and violence. In the cross we see love on full display, loving us to the end.

The Triune love of God fully revealed at the Cross of Christ leads us to the command of today’s Gospel. The cost of discipleship is to love as Jesus has loved us. We must be like Jesus.

The Old Testament gave us the command to love our neighbor as ourselves. What is new in Jesus is the call to love everyone, without distinction, to the end. For in loving even our enemies, we love Christ who thought of them and loved them from his cross.

We live out this godly love in three ways: our parish, our future, and the many communal relationships we foster in life.

In our parish, we live out the mission to preach the Gospel. We keep to our commitments to confess our sins, feed at the Eucharistic altar, so that we can serve the poor. Conversion without concern for the vulnerable is not conversion at all. You become like angels whose wings reveal their shadows. This is an idea from a portrait of Saint Cecilia playing the organ. An angel holds her sheet music and its wings reveal no shadows. If an angel reveals the shadowed wings they are imposters.

We live out love in our future. God journeys with us so that we can discover his will in our lives. We must dare to love Him on the road, in every opportunity and struggle. Do not abandon God who will always reveal the next step and never allow us to take that step alone.

We are social beings grafted into a web of relationships: family, friends, work, and acquaintances. Foster these relationships and dare to seek Christ who is present in all of them. Love to the end.

Perhaps this is the road in loving one another as Christ has loved us. This is the road in which God is glorified. Happy Easter everyone!

Here is a beautiful rendition of today’s Gospel put into choral music.