During the Easter season, we celebrate the Resurrection of our Lord. The Resurrection is grand; the Resurrection is glorious. Yet, for all its grandeur and glory, the Resurrection comes at a price. The Resurrection comes through sacrifice. But not just any sacrifice will do. The Resurrection demands the pre-eminent Sacrifice of the Cross. Each Holy Mass renews this same sacrifice and re-presents the Sacrifice of the Cross to us. Through the power of his priestly ordination, the priest is able to consecrate bread and wine, making them become the very Body and Blood, Soul and Divinity of our Lord. The priest then immolates this Holy Victim, offering up our crucified Lord to God the Father.<\/p>\n
Today\u2019s Gospel takes place during the institution of the Eucharist. Although John\u2019s Gospel does not mention the institution of the Eucharist, we know from the other three Gospels that Jesus instituted the Eucharist and the Priesthood at this time. In John\u2019s Gospel, in place of the institution narrative, John tells us that Jesus gave his disciples a new commandment: \u201cthat you love one another, even as I have loved you\u201d (Jn 13:34). This new commandment \u201cto love one another…as I have loved you\u201d is not a commandment to be sentimental or nice to one another. It is a commandment to imitate Christ. Jesus loved us in a very particular way. He didn\u2019t buy us flowers; he didn\u2019t write us love notes and cover us with kisses. He loved us by sacrificing himself for us on the Cross. Sacrifice is the way that our Lord loved us and he commands us to do likewise. If we are to love as Jesus loves, we are called to sacrifice. Our individual sacrifices, however, will always remain imperfect unless we unite them to the pre-eminent Sacrifice of the Cross. Only through the sacrifice of Christ do our sacrifices take on their full meaning.<\/p>\n
In the midst of this Easter season, in the midst of its grandeur and glory, let us remember that the Resurrection has come at a price. The cost of Easter is Christ\u2019s sacrificial love. We are all called to imitate this love – to love one another as Christ has loved us.<\/p>\n
Ian Mahood\u00a0<\/strong>\u2013 St. Joseph Seminary, Edmonton, Alberta<\/p>\n Fot.\u00a0Josh Applegate\/Unsplash.com<\/em><\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" V Sunday in Easter<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":2041,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_active":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_note":"","_exactmetrics_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[8,17,18],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2040","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-blog","category-strona-glowna-najnowsze","category-strona-glowna-slider"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n