The idea of spreading love invites us to look beyond ourselves which this quote by Joanna Mercy captures:
“When you act on behalf of something greater than yourself, you begin feeling it acting through you with a power greater than your own.”
In today’s Gospel, the risen Jesus sends the disciples outward. Resurrection immediately leads to mission. And what is our mission? To spread God’s love revealed to us through Christ’s death and resurrection. It is not our love that we spread, it is God’s love working through us with a power greater than our own.
We are reminded that Easter is not a day; it is a season—a fifty-day-long season. The joy of Easter is so abundant that 24 hours cannot contain it, so we celebrate it for fifty days! (And because fifty days is one more than seven weeks, it extends beyond the completeness of time.) And what is that joy? It is the joy of first, fully experiencing and then spreading, the love of God revealed to us in the Paschal Mystery of Christ’s life, death, and resurrection. When we act on behalf of God’s love, we experience abundant joy—and we spread that joy.
Jesus reveals to us that God loves all people unconditionally, but that God has a preferential love for the poor and the marginalized, the afflicted and the oppressed. A mother of four once shared with me that she loves each of her children equally, but the child who holds the highest place in her heart at any given time is the one who needs her the most. Jesus teaches us that God is like that.
To spread that love this Easter season, let’s first develop a daily routine of reflecting on God’s love. Then, having experienced that love, let us act on its behalf. Reach out to others—especially those most in need, those our culture often turns its back on. Then, filled with God’s love and sharing it, you will experience the abundant joy of this glorious season.
