May 18, 2025

5th Sunday of Easter - Year C

Catechism of
the Catholic Church

Dicastery for the Clergy

Pope Leo
XIV

Francis

Benedict
XVI

Saint
John Paul II

Dicastery for
the Clergy

Pope
Leo XIV

Pope
Benedict XVI

FEATURED VIDEO (1)FEATURED VIDEO (2)LIVESTREAM

CATHOLIC NEWS SERVICE (2:40) – PART ONE Then-Father Robert Prevost (now Pope Leo XIV) reads from his address to the world Synod of Bishops on the New Evangelization in 2012. Father Prevost discusses the need for the church to adequately respond to the challenges posed by modern mass media. (November 8, 2012)

CATHOLIC NEWS SERVICE (2:40) – PART TWO Then-Father Robert Prevost (now Pope Leo XIV) reads from his address to the world Synod of Bishops on the New Evangelization in 2012. Father Prevost discusses the need for the church to adequately respond to the challenges posed by modern mass media. (November 8, 2012)

Catechism of
the Catholic Church

Dicastery for the Clergy

Dicastery for
the Clergy

Pope
Francis

Pope
Benedict XVI

FROM THE ARCHIVES

The Church

5th Sunday of Easter C

The Church was born out of Easter. On this Sunday, the liturgical texts revolve around the theme of the Church. Above all else, in the Gospel we are offered charity as the substance of the Church “It is by your love for one another, that everyone will recognize you as my disciples.” This Church, love and communion, is fulfilled historically in the small communities in the early Christian times, for example in the communities founded by Paul and Barnabas during their first missionary journey (first reading). This historical Church is a reflection of, as well as the driving force towards, the eternal Church, the definitive and endless home of God among people (second reading).

P. Antonio Izqeuirdo, L.C., © Dicastery for the Clergy A | B | C

Doctrinal Messages

Charity, the substance of the Church

Charity, the substance of the Church. The Gospel is very clear: "It is by your love for one another that everyone will recognize you as my disciples" (Jn 13:35). In using the word disciples, he is not referring to each one of them individually, but to them as a community of people who follow Jesus and his teachings, that is, as a Church. In the supreme hour in which he leaves us his last will and testament before dying, Jesus does not say, "Everyone will recognize you as my disciples if you live in poverty or if you are obedient, if you have learned properly all of my teachings or if you are able to preach my Gospel". These are all necessary things, but they do not coincide with the substance, with the quintessence of the Church. Only charity is its substance and quintessence. This is why the Church could be defined as "the community of those who love one another, as Christ loved them". Christ loved us to the point of giving his life so that we could live. Christ loved us to the point of enabling us to share in the same love that exists between the Father and the Son. Christ loved us to the point of becoming a slave and washing the feet of his disciples, so that we could realize that love and authority among his disciples mean service. If other values in the daily life of the Church are placed above charity, or worse yet, at its margin, we will have to conclude that we are not touching the heart of the Church.

P. Antonio Izqeuirdo, L.C., © Dicastery for the Clergy

A Church in history

A Church in history. After Pentecost, the disciples started to establish the first Christian communities in Jerusalem, the Mother Church, in Samaria, in the cities of the Mediterranean coast of Palestine, in Damascus, in Antioch; and with Paul and Barnabas in the southern region of the Roman province of Asia (where Turkey is today). The Church-as-charity began to become incarnate in small communities of men and women, Jews and Gentiles of different races and customs, united by their faith in and love for Jesus Christ. This historical incarnation of the Church-as-charity entailed certain requirements, some of which may be found in the second reading: the need for tribulation due to the very fact of living among other people who are not Christian; the need to be comforted and encouraged in the way we live our faith and our Christian life; the designation of priests to guide the community; prayer and fasting, as two important components supporting charity. It also entailed the joy of sharing with other communities - in this case with the community of Antioch - the wonders worked by God throughout Paul and Barnabas’s missionary journey across the southern region of the Asian province. These aspects, among others, speak of a Church that is living, present and incarnate in historical circumstances.

P. Antonio Izqeuirdo, L.C., © Dicastery for the Clergy

The Church in its eternal destiny

The Church in its eternal destiny. The second reading, taken from the Revelation of John, talks to us about a splendid and luminous Church, whose divine and human perfection has achieved its fullness. The author imagines the Church like a city, the new Jerusalem, God’s home among people (21:3). It is a Church visited and inhabited by the fullest joy, a Church that is always young and full of life, a Church with no borders, whose arms are stretched out to all. This Church, so beautiful and wonderful in its destiny, is a reflection, albeit a feeble one, of the historical Church, of the churches founded by the first Apostles, the Church in which the love and faith of Christians are incarnate today.

P. Antonio Izqeuirdo, L.C., © Dicastery for the Clergy

Pastoral Suggestions

The true face of the Church

The true face of the Church. What makes the true face of the Church, a beautiful and attractive face, shine before human beings? No doubt, the answer is charity. The Church as teacher is necessary, irreplaceable and inseparable from the Ecclesia amans, but in the eyes of the people, even Christians themselves, it is not the most attractive face. The Church that celebrates the sacraments is extremely important, and a very suitable way of expressing the Church’s love towards her children in different situations and circumstances of life. However, it is not the most alluring face for Christians, and even less for non-Christians. The Church’s institutions, at times greatly criticized, often unfairly and in a disloyal way, are not the most genuine face of the Church either. The true face of the Church is shown to us by the Church-as-charity, communion, the Church that truly loves and dedicates itself to communicating love through each and every one of its children. We all know the song that says "Where charity and love prevail, there is God". This sentence could be paraphrased in a different way: "Wherever there is charity and love, that’s where the Church is". Here, we are referring to that charity that springs from God and in God ends its journey of love in the life of human beings. God, the Alpha and Omega of charity; between these two extremes of Greek vocabulary we find all the other consonants and vowels with which we can express our love for our neighbor with all of our heart. Let us never separate charity from faith, from dogma, from the liturgy, from institutions. But may the most beautiful, genuine and true face that each one of us offers the Church be the face of true charity and sincere love. Let us recall what Saint Paul says in his hymn to charity: "Without charity, I am nothing".

P. Antonio Izqeuirdo, L.C., © Dicastery for the Clergy

The Church is also my parish

The Church is also my parish. The phenomenon of globalization can help us to better grasp the universality of the Church and thus of Christian charity. Parochialism, that is, being closed in within one’s parish or diocese, removing from one’s horizon any openness to other parishes, dioceses and to the entire Church in the different continents, must be rejected by a truly Christian heart. Of course, I should love and practice charity towards the members of my family, my neighborhood, my parish, etc. But isn’t the whole world becoming our parish, and thus the place where we can express our charity? A specific example of the globalization of love was given by many Christian families and many parishes all over Italy which welcomed so many young people coming from all over the world during the recent Jubilee Year. What can I do to express my love for the entire Church, from my parish and in my parish?

P. Antonio Izqeuirdo, L.C., © Dicastery for the Clergy

Catechism of
the Catholic Church

Dicastery for the Clergy

Pope Leo
XIV

Francis

Benedict
XVI

Saint
John Paul II

Dicastery for
the Clergy

Pope
Francis

Pope
Benedict XVI

Francis

5th Sunday of Easter C

Catechism of
the Catholic Church

Dicastery for the Clergy

Pope Leo
XIV

Francis

Benedict
XVI

Saint
John Paul II

Dicastery for
the Clergy

Pope
Francis

Pope
Benedict XVI

Benedict XVI

5th Sunday of Easter C

New Commandment

2 May 2010 | PASTORAL VISIT TO TURIN

We are in the Easter Season which is the time of Jesus’ glorification. The Gospel we have just heard reminds us that this glorification is brought about in the Passion. In the Paschal Mystery, passion and glorification are closely bound together and form an indissoluble unity. When Judas leaves the Upper Room to carry out his scheme of betrayal that will lead to the Master’s death, Jesus says: “now is the Son of man glorified, and in him God is glorified” (Jn 13: 31): the glorification of Jesus begins at that very moment. The Evangelist John makes it quite clear: he does not in fact say that Jesus was glorified only after his Passion, through his Resurrection; rather he shows that precisely with the Passion his glorification began. In it Jesus manifests his glory, which is the glory of love, which gives itself totally. He loved the Father, doing his will to the very end, with a perfect gift of self; he loved humanity, giving his life for us. Thus he was already glorified in his Passion and God was glorified in him. But the Passion as a very real and profound expression of his love is only a beginning. This is why Jesus says that his glorification is also to come (cf. ibid., 13: 32). Then, when he announces his departure from this world (cf. ibid., 13: 33), the Lord gives his disciples a new commandment, as it were a testament, so that they might continue his presence among them in a new way: “A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another; even as I have loved you, that you also love one another” (Jn 13: 34). If we love each other, Jesus will continue to be present in our midst, to be glorified in this world.

Jesus speaks of a “new commandment”. But what is new about it? In the Old Testament, God had already given the commandment of love; but this commandment has become new now because Jesus makes a very important addition to it: “As I have loved you, that you also love one another”. What is new is precisely this “loving as Jesus loved”. All our loving is preceded by his love and refers to this love, it fits into this love and is achieved precisely through this love. The Old Testament did not present any model of love; it only formulated the precept of love. Instead, Jesus gave himself to us as a model and source of love a boundless, universal love that could transform all negative circumstances and all obstacles into opportunities to progress in love. And in this City’s Saints we see the fulfilment of this love, always from the source of Jesus’ love.

READ MORE

SOURCE: The Holy See Archive at the Vatican Website © Libreria Editrice Vaticana If you are unable to access the Vatican website, click here to check if it is down.

Catechism of
the Catholic Church

Dicastery for the Clergy

Pope Leo
XIV

Francis

Benedict
XVI

Saint
John Paul II

Dicastery for
the Clergy

Pope
Francis

John Paul II

Saint John Paul II

5th Sunday of Easter C

The Intimacy of the
Upper Room

13 May 2001 | PRIESTLY ORDINATIONS

1. “By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another” (Jn 13: 35).

The Gospel for the Fifth Sunday in the Easter Season takes us back to the intimacy of the Upper Room. There Christ, during the Last Supper, instituted the sacrament of the Eucharist and the Priesthood of the New Covenant, and bequeathed to his disciples the “new commandment” of love. We relive today the intense spiritual atmosphere of that extraordinary hour. The Lord’s words to his disciples are addressed particularly to you, dear candidates for the priesthood, who are invited to receive his testament of love and service this morning.

We gather around you with affection. Close to you first of all are your relatives and friends, to whom I extend my most cordial greeting. The whole diocesan community of Rome, in which you carried out your formation, is gathered round you in spirit. The rectors and directors of formation of the Pontifical Roman Major Seminary, of the Almo Collegio Capranica, of the Redemptoris Mater Seminary, of the Seminary of the Oblates Sons of Our Lady of Divine Love, of the Identes Missionary Institute and of the Institute of the Sons of St Anne.

With special recognition I turn to those who have supervised your formation. The Cardinal Vicar spoke on their behalf at the beginning of this celebration. Through him, to whom I am deeply grateful, I would like to extend my warm gratitude to those in the Dioccese who actively work in the vocational field.

2. “Now is the Son of man glorified, and in him God is glorified” (Jn 13: 31).

While the liturgy urges us to dwell in the Upper Room in interior contemplation, let us once again listen to the Evangelist John who, ever attentive to the echoes of Christ’s heart, cites the words he spoke after Judas Iscariot went out. Jesus speaks of the glory that the Father and the Son render to each other in the Easter mystery.

Dear deacons, today Christ invites you to enter into his glory and not to seek any other glory outside of it. For you too, this is a decisive “hour”. Indeed, ordination is the moment when Christ, through consecration in the Holy Spirit, associates you in a special way with his priesthood for the world’s salvation. Each of you is chosen to glorify God in persona Christi Capitis. Like Christ and united with him, you will glorify God and will be glorified by him, offering yourselves for the world’s salvation (cf. Jn 6: 51), loving to the end the persons whom the Father entrusts to you (cf. Jn 13: 3) and washing one another’s feet (cf. Jn 13: 14).

The Lord presents his commandment to you in a new way: “as I have loved you, that you also love one another” (Jn 13: 34). It is a gift and a commandment for you: a gift of Christ’s yoke that is easy and light (cf. Mt 11: 30); a commitment always to take this yoke upon yourselves first, humbly becoming models for the flock (cf. 1 Pt 5: 3) entrusted to you by the Good Shepherd. You must constantly turn to him for help. You must always be inspired by his example.

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SOURCE: The Holy See Archive at the Vatican Website © Libreria Editrice Vaticana If you are unable to access the Vatican website, click here to check if it is down.