Jesus said to his disciples:
“As the Father loves me, so I also love you.
The love that God has for us is the starting place, the ground on which we begin (see Ephesians 3:17). But from that initial privileged place we can choose to remain in his love or to run from it. Because he loves us and knows what will make us happy he desires that we remain in him and in his love. It is for this reason that he gives us his commandments, which are not about ceremony or sacrifice, but rather about the ways in which we must love in turn.
Remain in my love.
If you keep my commandments, you will remain in my love,
just as I have kept my Father’s commandments
and remain in his love.
The commandments of Jesus are a torrent of grace that are meant to teach us how to love as Jesus first loved us. They promise mercy so that we can in turn show mercy. Remaining in the love and mercy of Jesus means that we have to let them have their due course in us, transforming us, and finally overflowing from us into love and mercy for others.
“I have told you this so that
my joy might be in you and
your joy might be complete.”
The commandments aren't finally about obligations, neither are they arbitrary. They describe the only conditions under which human beings can truly flourish and thrive. As Bishop Barron said, the Church only says "no" in order to defend on a deeper "yes".
But on the other hand, there is a “no” which is in service of a “yes,” since it represents a “no” to a “no;” it is a double negative that constitutes a positive.
In the Acts of the Apostles God used Peter and the Apostles to reveal the fact that it was divine love, and not the ceremonial works of the Jewish law, that was the starting place for both Jew and Gentile, the only condition, already available for everyone, necessary for salvation.
And God, who knows the heart,
bore witness by granting them the Holy Spirit
just as he did us.
He made no distinction between us and them,
for by faith he purified their hearts.
The outpouring of the Holy Spirit was what constituted the Church. It can be said that the Church was born when the Spirit flowed from the side of Christ on the cross as living water, when Jesus breathed on the disciples, giving them the power to forgive sins, but especially at Pentecost when fearful and confused disciples were changed in an instant into bold and powerful witnesses. But the Holy Spirit, the love of God poured into the hearts of men and women (see Romans 5:5), was not the beginning for them alone. It was the same beginning for the Gentiles. It is the same beginning for each of us when we are baptized.
Since everything begins with God's love before any of us could deserve anything it means that no one can be excluded. We can't introduce artificial criteria on which we can judge some as more important than others. It all comes down to the love from which we begin, and the only real concern for any of us is abiding in that love.
It is my judgment, therefore,
that we ought to stop troubling the Gentiles who turn to God
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