“Chosen and Sent: The Call of Christ’s Friendship”
“For the Souls in Purgatory – Eternal rest grant unto them O Lord”
John 15:9-17
As the Father loves me, so I also love you. Remain in my love. If you keep my commandments, you will remain in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commandments and remain in his love. I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and your joy may be complete. This is my commandment: love one another as I love you. No one has greater love than this, to lay down one’s life for one’s friends. You are my friends if you do what I command you. I no longer call you slaves, because a slave does not know what his master is doing. I have called you friends, because I have told you everything I have heard from my Father. It was not you who chose me, but I who chose you and appointed you to go and bear fruit that will remain, so that whatever you ask the Father in my name he may give you. This I command you: love one another.
Grace Prayed For
The grace to remain in Jesus’ love and to bear fruit that reflects His life-giving love in the world.
Reflection
Can you hear Him? The risen Jesus is whispering into your heart: “I have chosen you. I have loved you first.” These words are not distant—they are alive, pulsing with the same power that broke open the tomb. He invites you into the same deep communion He shares with the Father, a love so pure that it asks us to step beyond ourselves and become conduits of divine love in the world.
To remain in His love is not merely to receive it but to allow it to transform every fiber of our being—to let it spill over into every encounter, every act of service, every word of truth spoken in His name. The Resurrection is proof that love is stronger than death. And now, Jesus calls you His friend and sends you out, not as a servant blindly obeying orders, but as one intimately known, trusted, and empowered to bear lasting fruit.
This is the heartbeat of the Great Commission: that we love as He has loved us. When we do, the world sees Him alive—through our courage, through our tenderness, through our willingness to lay down our lives in both great and small ways. The joy of the Resurrection is not just that Jesus lives, but that He lives in you.
Growing in Intimacy/Union with Jesus
This passage draws us deeper into intimacy with Jesus by revealing His heart: we are not mere followers but friends, invited into the very love He shares with the Father. As we abide in that love and live out His command to love others, we discover a profound closeness—a sharing in His mission, His joy, and His very life. Intimacy with Jesus deepens each time we choose love over fear, self-gift over self-preservation.
When Time Allows Reflect on the Posts in Library and Musings
Sharing
Jesus last words on Earth were to his disciples, can be found in Matthew Chap 28 when Jesus told his disciples, “Then Jesus approached and said to them, “All power in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go, therefore, and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, until the end of the age.”
Jesus calls all of us to share in his redemptive mission here on Earth. I would ask you to share this Scripture reflection with your family, your friends and your acquaintances, and then share it with a couple of individuals that you may may not be comfortable sharing with, keeping in mind always the words of Jesus, And behold, I am with you always, until the end of the age
Author was assisted by AI in the drafting of this Post