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John 15: 12-17 - 'What I command you is to love one another.'

Catechism of the Catholic Church Paragraphs:

- 1970 (in 'The New Law') - The entire Law of the Gospel is contained in the "new commandment" of Jesus, to love one another as he has loved us (abbreviated).

- 609 (in 'Jesus freely embraced the Father's redeeming love') - By embracing in his human heart the Father's love for men, Jesus "loved them to the end", for "greater love has no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends." In suffering and death his humanity became the free and perfect instrument of his divine love which desires the salvation of men. Indeed, out of love for his Father and for men, whom the Father wants to save, Jesus freely accepted his Passion and death: "No one takes [my life] from me, but I lay it down of my own accord." Hence the sovereign freedom of God's Son as he went out to his death.

- 1972 (in 'The New Law') - The New Law is called a law of love because it makes us act out of the love infused by the Holy Spirit, rather than from fear; a law of grace, because it confers the strength of grace to act, by means of faith and the sacraments; a law of freedom, because it sets us free from the ritual and juridical observances of the Old Law, inclines us to act spontaneously by the prompting of charity and, finally, lets us pass from the condition of a servant who "does not know what his master is doing" to that of a friend of Christ - "For all that I have heard from my Father I have made known to you" - or even to the status of son and heir.

- 2347 (in 'The Integrality of the gift of self') - The virtue of chastity blossoms in friendship. It shows the disciple how to follow and imitate him who has chosen us as his friends, who has given himself totally to us and allows us to participate in his divine estate. Chastity is a promise of immortality. Chastity is expressed notably in friendship with one's neighbor. Whether it develops between persons of the same or opposite sex, friendship represents a great good for all. It leads to spiritual communion.

- 459 (in 'Why did the Word become Flesh') - Jesus is the model for the Beatitudes and the norm of the new law: "Love one another as I have loved you." This love implies an effective offering of oneself, after his example (abbreviated).

- 737 (in 'The Holy Spirit and the Church') - He makes present the mystery of Christ, supremely in the Eucharist, in order to reconcile them, to bring them into communion with God, that they may "bear much fruit" (abbreviated).

- 2074 (in 'The Decalogue and the Natural Law') - Jesus says: "I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in me, and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing." The fruit referred to in this saying is the holiness of a life made fruitful by union with Christ. When we believe in Jesus Christ, partake of his mysteries, and keep his commandments, the Savior himself comes to love, in us, his Father and his brethren, our Father and our brethren. His person becomes, through the Spirit, the living and interior rule of our activity. "This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you."

- 2745 (in 'Persevering in Love')

- 2615 (in 'Jesus teaches us how to pray')

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John 15: 9-11 - 'Remain in my love.'

Catechism of the Catholic Church Paragraphs:

- 1823 (in 'Charity') - Jesus makes charity the new commandment. By loving his own "to the end," he makes manifest the Father's love which he receives. By loving one another, the disciples imitate the love of Jesus which they themselves receive. Whence Jesus says: "As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you; abide in my love." and again: "This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you."

Got a Bible question? Send an email to logicalbiblestudy@gmail.com, and it will be answered in an upcoming episode!

To support the ministry and access exclusive content, go to: ⁠⁠⁠http://patreon.com/logicalbiblestudy⁠⁠⁠

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John 15: 1-8 - 'I am the vine, you are the branches.'

Catechism of the Catholic Church Paragraphs:

- 1108 (in 'The Communion of the Holy Spirit') - In every liturgical action the Holy Spirit is sent in order to bring us into communion with Christ and so to form his Body. the Holy Spirit is like the sap of the Father's vine which bears fruit on its branches. The most intimate cooperation of the Holy Spirit and the Church is achieved in the liturgy. the Spirit who is the Spirit of communion, abides indefectibly in the Church. For this reason the Church is the great sacrament of divine communion which gathers God's scattered children together. Communion with the Holy Trinity and fraternal communion are inseparably the fruit of the Spirit in the liturgy.

- 755 (in 'Symbols of the Church') - The Church is a cultivated field, the tillage of God. On that land the ancient olive tree grows whose holy roots were the prophets and in which the reconciliation of Jews and Gentiles has been brought about and will be brought about again. That land, like a choice vineyard, has been planted by the heavenly cultivator. Yet the true vine is Christ who gives life and fruitfulness to the branches, that is, to us, who through the Church remain in Christ, without whom we can do nothing.

- 1988 (in 'Justification') - Through the power of the Holy Spirit we take part in Christ's Passion by dying to sin, and in his Resurrection by being born to a new life; we are members of his Body which is the Church, branches grafted onto the vine which is himself: (God) gave himself to us through his Spirit. By the participation of the Spirit, we become communicants in the divine nature.... For this reason, those in whom the Spirit dwells are divinized.

- 787 (in 'The Church is communion with Jesus') - Jesus spoke of a still more intimate communion between him and those who would follow him: "Abide in me, and I in you.... I am the vine, you are the branches." and he proclaimed a mysterious and real communion between his own body and ours: "He who eats my flesh and drinks my blood abides in me, and I in him" (abbreviated).

- 308 (in 'Providence and Secondary Causes') - The truth that God is at work in all the actions of his creatures is inseparable from faith in God the Creator. God is the first cause who operates in and through secondary causes: "For God is at work in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure." Far from diminishing the creature's dignity, this truth enhances it. Drawn from nothingness by God's power, wisdom and goodness, it can do nothing if it is cut off from its origin, for "without a Creator the creature vanishes." Still less can a creature attain its ultimate end without the help of God's grace.

- 864 (in 'The Apostolate') - "Christ, sent by the Father, is the source of the Church's whole apostolate"; thus the fruitfulness of apostolate for ordained ministers as well as for lay people clearly depends on their vital union with Christ (abbreviated).

- 1694 (in 'Life in Christ')

- 2074 (in 'The Decalogue and the Natural Law')

- 2732 (in 'Facing Temptations in Prayer')

- 517 (in 'Characteristics common to Jesus' mysteries')

- 737 (in 'The Holy Spirit and the Church')

- 859 (in 'The Apostle's Mission')

Got a Bible question? Send an email to logicalbiblestudy@gmail.com, and it will be answered in an upcoming episode!