The Easter season is a time when we remember Christ’s life, ministry, and resurrection, a time when we celebrate the new life which comes to us through the risen Lord. We talk about the new life we receive through Christ a lot in our faith, but what do we mean by new life? Can all of us look into our hearts and honestly say that we have experienced this new life in Christ during the Easter season? Can we look back on our lives and say that we have experienced this new life, renewal and conversion over the years? The word “new” appears several times in our readings today. In the first reading from Revelation, John speaks of a vision of a new heaven and a new earth, of the holy city, the new Jerusalem, of a voice from the throne stating that all things will be made new. In the Gospel, Jesus tells us that he has given us a new commandment, that we love one another just as Jesus has loved us.
Our new life in our Lord Jesus Christ can come at different times in our lives, in different shapes and different forms. Some of our greatest examples of faith, such as St Francis of Assisi, St Ignatius of Loyola, St Augustine of Hippo, and Thomas Merton had new life come to them as adults after living away from God in lives that were not following the values of the Gospel before their conversions. For Teresa of the Andes and Therese of Lisieux, they received new life from Christ when they were young girls, leading them to choose to enter monasteries as Carmelite nuns and to leave behind the ways of the world that had been calling out to them. For most of us, this new life in Christ can come to us in different stages in life, not a one time experience, but renewal and new life that comes to us at different times in life, each time bringing us to a deeper understanding, or greater insight, or renewed commitment on our journey of faith and in our relationship with Christ.
This new life that is spoken about at different times in Scripture can be seen as conversion, or transformation, or the Greek word “metanoia.” Metanoia signifies a radical change in our vision and in our priorities in life. Metanoia means new attitudes, new values, new standards of relating with God, with people, and with our entire living environment. Recently, our Sunday morning adult faith formation group watched a video series from the FORMED website called Metanoia: A Journey with Christ into conversion, hosted by the president of Franciscan University of Steubenville, Ohio, Father Dave Pivanka. According to Father Dave, in the process of metanoia, no matter where we are we our faith journey, we are invited to a deeper conversion. He states that metanoia is not a one-time event; rather, it is a continual process of turning away from the things of the world, from lies and sin, and then discovering a deeper union with Christ.
In the Gospel today, Jesus speaks of the foundation and heart of his teaching and message. These are his parting words to his disciples before he goes to his passion and death. His message goes beyond our faithfulness in keeping the Ten Commandments and leading a moral life. It goes beyond loving God and engaging in the Mass and partaking of the Sacraments of the Church on a regular basis. We are to love others, to love them as he himself has loved us. This, he says, is a “new” commandment, back to the word “new” we have been talking about. The message of the Old Testament tells us to love God with our whole heart and soul and to love our neighbors as ourselves. Jesus adds a new element in telling us that the true test of discipleship is to love others in the same way that he has loved us, building upon the message of God's love in the Old Testament. We might remember that these words lead the way to the “greatest possible love” that a person can show, that is, by letting go of one’s very life for others. Jesus embodied this in a very dramatic way in the suffering and degradation which he will submit to out of love for us.
In the First Reading, from the Acts, we see this commandment of love and the new life we have in Christ at work in the lives two early missionaries in the Early Church, Paul and Barnabas. Paul and Barnabas endured hardships, tribulations, and misunderstandings so that they could communicate the message and vision of Jesus to as many people as they could reach. To those who were already Christians, Paul and Barnabas gave support and encouragement to persevere in their Christian convictions. Paul and Barnabas saw God’s grace at work in their lives in every aspect of their reality. Rather than seeing their sufferings as a punishment from God, they gave honor and glory to God, thanking God for allowing them to open the door of faith for others and to serve God at all times. The power to love according to Jesus’ commandment will not seem so impossible or so overwhelming if we see God’s power and grace working within us to help us to love one another.
There is no magic formula that allows us to be renewed and transformed in the faith, that allows us to love others according Christ’s new commandment. It takes a lot of hard work and dedication. It is all part of a process. It is all part of our faith journey. It is a part of metanoia. Just like Paul and Barnabas, may we see God’s grace at work in the here and now. Let us love one another as Christ loved us.
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