Love one another as I have loved you
I call you friends . .
You did not choose me,
No, I chose you
And commissioned you to go out and bear fruit
John 15: 12b, 16

Jesus offers a new kind of relationship to his disciples. One which does not rely on the obedience of one partner to another, as was the case in the covenant between God and the people of Israel. Jesus offers a new covenant, a relationship between friends; a relationship which by its nature is based on mutual love and on loyalty.

The disciples addressed by Jesus loved and admired him. We don't have a record of their response in the gospel and can only imagine the pride and perhaps trepidation with which they heard and responded. Chosen. By God. To do his work. Helped by Jesus' enduring presence in his Holy Spirit.

And today? You, too, have been chosen by a God who knows you and knows exactly how you can share his love for you with others - in your own particular way in the unique circumstances of your daily life. Your apparently "little" acts of love, flowing as they do from the Spirit given to you in baptism, are transformed into fruits, love-gifts of a loving God. God- Father, Son and Holy Spirit - working in you; loving through you. God has chosen you. He needs you to be you, to love as only you can love amid the ups and downs of your daily life. How do you respond?