Gospel Reflection Fifth Sunday of Easter, May 18th, 2025

amense los unos a los otros como yo los he amado

Christianity, in its beginnings, did not have temples or churches. The first communities, as the Acts of the Apostles recount, met in homes, or in some open place, for the breaking of bread, to listen to the apostles’ teaching (the gospel), and to pray. It was not until after the year 313, when the Emperor Constantine, with his Edict of Milan, granted freedom of worship to Christians and, subsequently, took measures to unify Christian doctrine through the Council of Nicaea.

These data tell us that Christian identity does not come only from a building where we gather, or from the name or denomination under which we present ourselves, or from the external signs we bear, but from the living of the commandments, and especially the commandment of love: “This is how all will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.”

Today we also have the task of being recognized as members of Christ, not by outward signs, or the size of the buildings where we congregate, but by the way we live out our faith. A faith lived and shared, in the midst of life’s joys and sorrows, triumphs and falls.

Fr. Tarcisio