The Delegation of Rome and Vatican City of the Sacred Military Constantinian Order of Saint George, with the aim of providing continuous formation to its Knights, Dames and Postulants, began publishing podcasts on its YouTube channel on Palm Sunday 2024, with reflections on the seeking readings, edited by Prof. Enzo Cantarano, Knight of Merit with silver star, who is in charge of formation. On May 5, 2024, the meditation on the readings of the Sixth Sunday of Easter was published.
Podcast 5 May 2024 – Sixth Sunday of Easter: The love of God must translate into love for others
The gift of the Spirit, promised by Jesus to His faithful, is not subject to the sectarian logic of exclusion, power or merit and acts continuously, even today, in an absolutely irrepressible way, free from human conveniences or interests, and descends on and dwells in all those who “listen to the Word”.
And then: “Who can prevent those who have received the Holy Spirit, like us, from being baptized in water?” asks Peter in the First Reading, from the Acts of the Apostles (Acts 10,25-27.34-35.44-48). And, faced with the amazement of the “right-thinking” people who would like a God just for them, exclusive and selective, he understands that instead “God does not show preferences for people.”
Whoever takes the initiative to call men and women to be part of the people of the baptized is always with God; His initiative is called love (cf. Second Reading – 1 John 4.7-10) and He wants to reach all men. This is the delivery that Jesus also left to His disciples (cf. Gospel – Jn 15.9-17). He set the example for us by giving His life for us; we too are called to listen to the Word of the Lord and to commit ourselves more and more to living the commandment of love. We must always sink our roots into the fertile soil of Christ’s love and love with deeds, avoiding that we remain only in the sphere of ideas and pious intentions. Then our life is continually regenerated and every day finds new impetus and vigor.
On this common feeling of love, founded on the brotherhood of the children of God, created in the image and likeness of the Creator, the dignity of man is structured, which establishes his freedom, including religious freedom. The latter is a rediscovery, after centuries of oblivion essentially linked to the “Constantinian turning point” of the organization of the Church as a structure of worldly power, of the Second Vatican Council.
In various documents, respect for the religious belief (and atheism itself) of every person is affirmed, as well as the execration of “any discrimination… for reasons of religion” (See Conciliar Declaration Nostra aetate), and the positive meaning of the different religions of the world as an imperfect transposition of the revelation of the true God, therefore destined for the full but already effective spiritual, moral, socio-cultural good of a people.
The distinction, eventually, no longer passes into the field of the sacred (or cult), but into that of brotherly love and commitment to the liberation of man. The service of others can truly constitute a basic “religious” language that accentuates what is common among anyone who welcomes Christ in the little ones and the poor, even without recognizing His face.
It is characteristic of the freedom of the Spirit to arouse the “wonders of God” in non-Christians. We cannot claim to keep the inalienable right to religious freedom for ourselves alone as it is based on the dignity of the human person, removed from any public sphere of any kind; which means that for believers in non-Christian religions, for atheists, for agnostics, for the indifferent, for skeptics, the system of immunity from coercion by public authorities applies, even if they publicly profess their ideas.
The Church after Vatican II agreed to renounce a monopoly position from which pluralism was excluded. Without opting in the slightest for a doctrinal liberalism that demands the equality of all religions, without giving up evangelization, the Church recognizes in the pluralism of modern society a situation that is not opposed to the Gospel. The Council explicitly speaks of the need for man to have “psychological freedom”, as well as “immunity from external coercion.”And this is stated to prevent methods contrary to dignity, freedom and human responsibility.
John’s concern for the young Church to which he addressed his letter was that charity should reign among the various members so that the love of God manifested in the sending of the Son would be known by all. This remains, at all times, the condition for the expansion of the Church: men will be attracted to it by the sign of brotherly love. Our communities, our assemblies must therefore be open to all: non-Christians, the unconvinced, the indifferent, those in a situation of seeking… On the one hand, in the visible belonging of Christians to the Church through baptism and their explicit profession of faith in the Lord Jesus which reaches its summit in the Eucharistic celebration, they must show everyone the object of their search and the end of their spiritual adventure.
On the other hand, believers, the “committed”, must continually renew their willingness to overcome the temptation not to engage in dialogue with those outside Christianity, to remember that “whoever fears God and practices justice, to whatever people he belongs, is acceptable to Him” (First Reading). Anyone who encounters Christian assemblies should feel welcomed into their own home, into a family to which they already virtually belong, until they come to full knowledge of the God of Jesus Christ. Only in this way will the invocations to the Paraclete acquire concreteness and credibility “so that we may become one body and one spirit in Christ” (Eucharistic Prayer III).
During the Easter season we have heard many times from the Gospel according to John passages of the speech that Jesus addresses to the disciples before His Passion. He bids farewell to His family and to us, leaving the commandment of love as a testament. This love is given to us by God himself, who loved us first and poured His love into our hearts through the Holy Spirit. God’s love has no measure, it has no boundaries, it is an infinite ocean and produces immense good in those who welcome it. The fruits of the Spirit ripen with faith and mutual benevolence. Therefore, only by loving can we make our contribution to completing the work of salvation of reuniting all the children of God dispersed in the one house of the Father. Freely loved and indebted to God for an immense love, we must freely give what we have received without ever discriminating and without ever thinking that we have already fully accomplished our task. Living together in the joy of the risen Lord in the daily gift of a love increasingly similar to that which Jesus gave us, we can credibly announce to our brothers the faith in Christ, the love of God the Father and the strength of the Holy Spirit who is the constraint of unity.
The table of the Word, which is offered to us this Sunday, is overflowing with spiritual food, and all this food, which has been prepared for us, is seasoned and sweetened with an essential and substantial ingredient: charity, the love of God for us which must translate into active love for our neighbor. We are forced always to repeat the same great truth to ourselves. Let us not get tired of hearing it, so that weassimilate it more and more. Loving does not just mean nourishing feelings or thoughts in an abstract way, but experiencing love by putting it into action in life. In fact, true love cannot remain theoretical and sterile, it must be translated into practice and bear fruit, and the true fruits that the Lord expects from us are goodness, the ability to forgive, the ability to make communion and to use our life in serving others, with generosity and concern, imitating Christ in everything. Let us commit ourselves every day to discover this more and more and pursue charity, thus becoming a gift for each other, knowing that our joy will be full when we have made our whole life an offering for growth in faith and in the love of our brothers and all humanity (Encyclical Fratelli tutti).
