Thursday in the Fourth Week of Easter

We pray the Thursday of the fourth week of Easter and offer our day to Jesus through the Immaculate Heart of Mary. We then hear Saint Augustine unpack why “love one another” is truly new and how Christ’s love renews us into one body. 
• Opening prayers and a morning offering for the Church, our loved ones, and the Holy Father 
• Saint Augustine on why the new commandment is new through the “new man” 
• The difference between natural affection and loving as Christ loves 
• Love as the bond that forms the Church into one body where we share suffering and joy 
• The link between loving God and loving our brother as the summary of the law 
If you found this time of prayer and reflection fruitful and would like more opportunities to grow in your faith, consider joining the Cristeros and purchasing our publications, now available on Amazon.com. The Cristeros app is available on the Apple app and Google Play Store. More information on the Cristeros can be found at theCristeros.org. 

Transcript

Augustine On The New Commandment

Closing Collect And Final Blessing

Invitation To Join The Cristeros

SPEAKER_00 0:02

Thursday in the fourth week of Easter. In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen. O God, come to my assistance. O Lord, make haste to help me. Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit, as it was in the beginning, is now and ever shall be, world without end. Amen. O Jesus, through the Immaculate Heart of Mary, I offer you my prayers, works, joys, and sufferings of this day, in union with the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass throughout the world, for the remission of my sins, for the intentions of my family and friends, and in particular, for the intentions of the Holy Father. Amen. From a treatise on John by Saint Augustine, Bishop, a new commandment I give you, that you love one another. This commandment that He is giving them is a new one, the Lord Jesus tells his disciples. Yet was it not contained in the old law where it is written, You shall love your neighbor as yourself? Why does the Lord call it new when it is clearly so old? Or is the commandment new because it divests us of our former selves and clothes us with the new man? Love does indeed renew the man who hears, or rather obeys its command, but only that love which Jesus distinguished from a natural love by the qualification, as I have loved you. This is the kind of love that renews us. When we love as He loved us, we become new men, heirs of the new covenant, and singers of the new song. My brothers, this was the love that even in bygone days renewed the holy men, the patriarchs and prophets of old. In later times it renewed the blessed apostles, and now it is the turn of the Gentiles. From the entire human race throughout the world, this love gathers together into one body and new people, to be the bride of God's only Son. She is the bride of whom it is asked in the Song of Songs, who is this who comes clothed in white? White indeed are her garments, for she has been made new, and the source of her renewal is none other than this new commandment. And so all her members make each other's welfare their common goal. When one member suffers, all the members suffer with him, and if one member is glorified, all the rest rejoice. They hear and obey the Lord's words. A new commandment I give you, that you love one another, not as men love one another, for their own selfish ends, nor merely on account of their common humanity, but because they are all gods and sons of the Most High. They love one another as God loves them, so that they may be brothers of his only Son. He will lead them to the goal that alone will satisfy them, where all their desires will be fulfilled. For when God is all in all, there will be nothing left to desire. This love is the gift of the Lord, who said, As I have loved you, you also must love one another. His object in loving us, then, was to enable us to love each other. By loving us Himself, our mighty head has linked us all together as members of his own body, bound to one another by the tender bond of love. God has given us this commandment. Whoever loves God must also love his brother. On these two commandments rest the whole law and the prophets. Whoever loves God must also love his brother. O God, who restores human nature to yet greater dignity than at its beginnings. Look upon the amazing mystery of your loving kindness, and in those you have chosen to make new through the wonder of rebirth, may you preserve the gifts of your enduring grace and blessing. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, God forever and ever. Amen. Let us praise the Lord and give him thanks. All that I have and all that I am, I give to your hands, Jesus, through the heart of Mary, your blessed mother. Amen. Sacred heart of Jesus, have mercy on us. Our Lady of Guadalupe, pray for us. In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen. If you found this time of prayer and reflection fruitful and would like more opportunities to grow in your faith, consider joining the Cristeros and purchasing our publications, now available on Amazon.com. The Cristeros app is available on the Apple app and Google Play Store. More information on the Cristeros can be found at theCristeros.org.