Gospel: Jn 15:9–17
As the Father has loved me, so I have loved you. Remain in my love! You will remain  in my love if you keep my commandments,
just as I have kept my Father’s commandments and remain in his love. I have told you all this, that my own joy may be in you,
and your joy may be complete. This is my commandment: Love one another as I have loved you! There is no greater love than

Gospel: Jn 16:16-20
A little while, and you will see me no more; and then a little while, and you will
see me. Some of the disciples wondered, “What does he mean by, ‘A little while, and
you will not see me; and then a little while, and you will see me?’ And why did he say,

Gospel: Jn 16:12–15
I still have many things to tell you, but you cannot bear them now. When he, the
Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into the whole truth. For he will not speak
of his own authority, but will speak what he hears, and he will tell you about the

Gospel: Jn 16:5–11
But now I am going to the One who sent me, and none of you asks me where I am going;
instead you are overcome with grief, because of what I have said. Believe me, it is better for you that I go
away, because as long as I do not go away, the Helper will not come to you. But if I go away, I will send
him to you, and when he comes, he will vindicate the truth before a sinful world; and he will vindicate the paths
of righteousness and justice. What is the world’s sin, in regard to me? Disbelief. What is the path of righteousness?
It is the path I walk, by which I go to the Father; and you shall see me no more. What is the path of justice? It is the path
on which the prince of this world will always stand condemned.

Reflection:

In the face of Jesus’ impending departure, the disciples are sad. They
are in grief because a part of them will stay with Jesus always. Jesus too feels the
pain of going away. That is the bittersweet reality of parting. One must go to
see greater destiny. But in doing so, you leave pieces of yourself behind. And
you bring pieces of those you will leave behind. Thus the one departing
and those left behind are incomplete. They will be made whole again in the
reunion in heaven.

© Copyright Bible Diary 2021

Gospel: Jn 15:26–16:4a
From the Father, I will send you the Spirit of truth. When this Helper has come from the Father,
he will be my witness, and you, too will be my witnesses, for you have been with me from the beginning.
I tell you all this to keep you from stumbling and falling away. They will put you out of the synagogue.

Gospel: Jn 15:9–17
As the Father has loved me, so I have loved you. Remain in my love! You will remain in my love if you keep my commandments,
just as I have kept my Father’s commandments and remain in his love. I have told you all this, that my own joy may be in you,
and your joy may be complete. This is my commandment: Love one another as I have loved you! There is no greater love than this,
to give one’s life for one’s friends; and you are my friends, if you do what I command you. I shall not call you servants any more, because servants
do not know what their master is about. Instead, I have called you friends, since I have made known to you everything I learned from my Father.
You did not choose me; it was I who chose you and sent you to go and bear fruit, fruit that will last. And everything you ask the Father in my
name, he will give you. This is my command, that you love one another.

Lectio Divina:

READ: Jesus discloses His greatest commandment to His disciples. They must
love one another just as Jesus loved them with the love of the Father. Their
love must be concretized in their obedience to His will. Because of this, they
will now be His friends sharing in the life of fruitfulness. And everything they
will ask the Father in Jesus’ name will be granted them.

REFLECT: The first command that Jesus gives His disciples before His Passion
is for them to love one another. This love must be obedient to His words and
be self-giving. For the highest expression of love is to give oneself without
regard to self-wellbeing so that others may experience fullness of life. And
He showed the way when later, He gave up His life for the salvation of all.
Without regard to self, He plunged head long to His passion and death. And
this selfless act of giving resulted to a new and transformed life when He
rose from the dead. For death is weak in front of the power of love. And Jesus
elevated His disciples to that of friends. Love seeks not to differentiate but to
unite. Friendship is what unites the disciple to the Master. This unity enables a
relationship that does away with Master-Follower distinction. From this time
on, the disciples will follow the Master not out of fear but because of love.

RESPOND: How do we love? That is the question today. For love has many
sides, some of them not so true and good. We need to go back to the author
of love, that is, God in order to situate our love. Does it follow Jesus’ way of
loving or not? If not, we have all the time from today till judgment day to
make adjustments.

© Copyright Bible Diary 2021

Gospel: Jn 15:18–21
If the world hates you, remember that the world hated me before you. This would not be so if you belonged to the world,
because the world loves its own. But you are not of the world, since I have chosen you from the world; because of this the world

Gospel: Jn 15:12–17
This is my commandment: Love one another as I have loved you! There is no greater love than this, to give one’s life for
one’s friends; and you are my friends, if you do what I command you. I shall not call you servants any more,
because servants do not know what their master is about. Instead, I have called you friends, since I have made known to you

Gospel: Jn 15:9-11
As the Father has loved me, so I have loved you. Remain in my love! You will remain
in my love if you keep my commandments, just as I have kept my Father’s commandments

Gospel: Jn 15:1-8
I am the true vine and my Father is the vine grower. If any of my branches doesn’t bear fruit, he breaks it off; and he prunes
every branch that does bear fruit, that it may bear even more fruit. You are already made clean by the word I have spoken
to you. Live in me as I live in you. The branch cannot bear fruit by itself, but has to remain part of the vine; so neither
can you, if you don’t remain in me. I am the vine and you are the branches. As long as you remain in me and I in you, you bear much fruit;
but apart from me you can do nothing. Whoever does not remain in me is thrown away, as they do with branches, and they wither. Then
they are gathered and thrown into the fire and burned. If you remain in me and my words remain in you, you may ask whatever you want, and
it will be given to you. My Father is glorified when you bear much fruit: it is then that you become my disciples.

Reflection:

We only remain fecund when we stay attached to the Vine. For we do not have
roots of our own. It is the Vine, our Lord Jesus Christ that provides us with the things we
need to bear much fruit in our personal and social spaces. In the level of the personal, it is
the transformation of self for the better. In the social level, it is the growth in love of God
and our fellow humans. If cut abruptly from the Vine, we are useless. If we must venture on
our own, we need a process of grafting that allows us to grow roots of our own while
still attached to the Vine.

© Copyright Bible Diary 2021