Love is not about us

The texts today from the Roman Catholic Lectionary are appropriately over filled with the word "love". The learning about the love which is described by Jesus to His disciples in the text from the Gospel of John is done by living or abiding in the stepping out for and being brother and sister to all. Jesus describes His disciples as friends. The friend understands. In the passage from the Acts of the Apostles, Cornelius is described as a friend of the synagogue. He was a Roman Centurion and his profession as a soldier from the pagan oppressing society did not prevent him from seeking God in association with the Jews. Peter, who according to Friar Jude Winkler is important to Mark as the representative of the hierarchy, is drawn by the Spirit and  his experience abiding with his Friend Jesus to baptize the Gentiles and members of the enemy society as branches into the same community as the Jewish followers of the Way.  The decision to step out like God, as Fr Larry Gillick SJ comments today, is love. This decision to act to include and give up our comfort, greed, position, power, expectations and pleasure for the other and be joyful in rejoicing at the opportunity to abide in the world as "friend" Jesus is the Christian message. Abiding in Jesus is living fruitfully and joyfully with the tensions from the world which are appear in the texts today as the hierarchy leading Christians (Peter) versus the Spirit leading individuals (Paul) and the inclusion versus the rejection of the enemy for the protection of the Friends of Jesus. The witness of giving of self to death is the model for our stepping out to the other.