"Whatever was, will be again; what has been done will be done again, and there is nothing new under the sun."

Believe it or not, that's from the Bible! In this melancholy text, the Preacher of Ecclesisastes laments the futility of life, its endless cycle of repetitions, humanity's inability to learn from its mistakes.  He sounds really depressed!

How often do we find ourselves in the same predicament?  How many of us find life tedious, boring, repetitive, unrewarding at times?  You get up, you fight the traffic, you go to work, you fight the traffic, get detoured by construction, you go home again. Household duties get done, and just as soon as you've caught up, you start over again; even family life and significant relationships get into a rut. 

And then, we turn on the television and watch the news.  We see an almost endless list of disasters: earthquakes in Japan and Ecuador, lifeboats filled with desperate refugees sinking in the Mediterranean, nations closing their borders, the politics of rhetoric and exclusion heating up. Closer to home, we witness the desperation of aboriginal children entering into suicide pacts in the James Bay community of Attawapiskat, the diminished respect for vulnerable human life evidenced by the so-called “medically assisted death legislation.”  Then there are all the other problems which continue to plague us: breakdown in families, an endangered environment, a loss of confidence in all levels of leadership in our society, be it political, social, economic, or spiritual. 

We call it "news", but there doesn't seem to be anything terribly "new" about it.  Instead of learning from our mistakes, we find new and creative ways of repeating and perpetuating them.  This leads to a society where many people, especially the young, have become disenchanted, defeatist, and despairing; in which anarchy, drugs, suicide become solutions to a vague but deep-seated malaise.

So is there anything “new” under the sun?  Where can we turn as we look for the source of a new hope?  Although our faith is indeed deeply rooted in history, the Scriptures proclaimed today reveal to us that our faith is both OLD and NEW.  In the reading from Acts, Paul and Barnabas are sent on a NEW mission, bringing the Good News of Jesus' resurrection beyond the Jews and into Gentile territory.  The Revelation text points to a future vision of "a new heaven and a new earth", in which God announces that he is "making the whole of creation new."  Finally, in today’s Gospel, Jesus gives us a new commandment – not so much a novel idea as a way of life which, when lived out according to the example of Jesus, promises to inject new life and new hope into the darkest of human situations.

We need to understand Jesus’ commandment to "love one another" in the context in which he shared it.  A lot happened that night before Jesus was to die.  He foretold his betrayal and death; he knelt down and washed the feet of his disciples; he promised the gift of the Holy Spirit; he broke the bread and shared the cup, associating these gestures with his imminent passion, death and resurrection.  Everything that happened that evening was part of a single, new, redeeming message: that Jesus' whole life was an expression of his faithfulness and love for God and for all God's people; that the depth of his love was such that he was willing to lay down his own life for his friends; that now that he was returning to the Father and could no longer be physically present to them, he would create new and deeper modes of presence to his people: Spirit, Eucharist, service, mutual love.

When we love as Jesus loved, when we serve as Jesus served, when we give as Jesus gave, then he is present: as present as he was in that Upper Room 2000 years ago.  The tenderness, care, compassion, concern we show for one another, in simple yet concrete ways, is the love of Christ operative in the world today.  Our attachment to Jesus is not ultimately measured by what we believe, know, or have achieved, but by how we have loved: "By the love you have for one another, everyone will know that you are my disciples." 

Perhaps if we Christians had spent more time meditating and living out that verse, and less time fighting among ourselves, less people would be prompted to look outside Christianity for a spiritual home, for a sense of community, for a safe place to belong.

When we embrace the commandment of love, we recognize that our common mission as followers of Jesus is to bring that love into every part of our world: our families, our workplaces, our neighbourhoods, our corporate boardrooms, our social structures, our political agendas.  Love is more than a feeling, than mere sentiment.  Love means a commitment to justice, to forgiveness, to self-sacrifice, to the example of Jesus.  Our love must be bold, unafraid to try new methods, new approaches, open to new Church and social structures.  At the same time, the love of Jesus provides us with the criterion to discern what is “new” in a positive sense, building up the message Christ entrusted to us, and what are “novelties” that distract and weaken the core faith we have received.

If we fail to love, this is precisely what we become what Pope Francis has called “collectors of antiques and chasers after novelties,” clinging desperately to what is old or running this way and that after anything new.  Love grounds us.  Love helps us to see what is truly important and needs to be preserved, and what we might need to let go of in order to love in a new way.  We love not just in some theoretical sense, but through very concrete gestures: as St. Ignatius of Loyola puts it, “Love is seen more in deeds than in words.”

In his recently-published exhortation on the family, Amoris Laetitia, Pope Francis places “the joy of loving” at the heart of his reflection on marriage and family life.  It is a rich text whose dramatic heart is a moving meditation on St. Paul’s “hymn to love”, that text known by anyone who has ever attended a Catholic wedding ceremony.

“Love, love, love.  All you need is love.”  Was that the Beatles or Pope Francis? In his apostolic exhortation, Amoris Laetitia (“The Joy of Love”), Pope Francis keeps driving home one theme: love. What exactly is Francis teaching us about love as it is present in the family?  A key to understanding both this document and love as Francis presents it is that love is anything but static or passive.  Love is an action. Love is a decision, which we are called to affirm and continually recommit to.

For those called to marriage, this means choosing to make love continue to grow and develop as they age and progress through life.  Pope Francis writes, “The love [that the couple] pledge is greater than any emotion, feeling, or state of mind, although it may include all of these.  It is a deeper love, a lifelong decision of the heart.  Even amid unresolved conflicts and confused or painful emotional situations, couples and families daily reaffirm their decision to love, to belong to one another, to share their lives and to continue loving and forgiving.” [163]

In focusing his meditation on the challenges facing marriage and family life, Pope Francis recognizes the family as a “school of love”, the place where we are formed in the experience and responsibilities of loving.  As “charity begins at home”, we start there: we begin by loving and honouring our parents, siblings, spouses, children, friends, neighbours, co-workers, fellow parishioners. 

Although charity begins at home, it doesn’t end there: love expands beyond that inner circle, and is expressed in what are often called “random acts of kindness”: simple courtesies, a note of thanks, a meal for a family coping with illness or the death of a loved one, offering up one’s seat on the bus, even holding the elevator for someone rushing to catch it.  When we extend ourselves in such ways, we learn that the road to happiness is not just about satisfying our own desires, but is found in acts of intentional loving, freely chosen.  When we act in such ways, we communicate to others that they have worth, that they are remembered and appreciated – that they are loved.  And we bear convincing witness to the One who is Love. 

This week, let us be conscious of the small acts of kindness directed toward you: by your inner circle of friends and family, and even by acquaintances or strangers.  Take some time to be consciously grateful for these signs of love.  And then ask yourself: how will I be a channel of God’s love for others this day?  In thought and gesture, in word and deed: how will I communicate to others today the reality that they are precious in God’s sight, that they are loved and appreciated? 

Let these tender mercies signal to them – and to you – that we all have worth, that we are loved.  This is how God is glorified.  This is how God creates “a new heaven and a new earth”: little by little, through concrete gesture of love and service.

The Eucharist we celebrate today is a living sign of God’s love in Jesus, made real and present in our midst.  May we who celebrate and share in this Eucharist be so transformed by it that we may come to love as Jesus loved.  Amen.