known to you everything I learned from my Father. You did not choose me; it was I who chose you and sent you to go and bear
fruit, fruit that will last. And everything you ask the Father in my name, he will give you. This is my command, that you love one another.

Reflection:

For a couple of days, we have been listening to the
deliberations of the Jerusalem Council to resolve the issue of
circumcision of the non-Jewish converts. What followed was
a historic and extraordinary decision not to enforce the
age-old Jewish practice of circumcision on the converts.
The rationale of the decision was “not to put any other burden”
on God’s faithful “except what is necessary.” And, what is
necessary? The gospel has the answer: Love alone is necessary.
Anything contrary to love is a burden and must be cast off.
In the recent years, there have been much debate, threatening
even to cause ideological splits, on account of some papal
applications of mercy into matters related to marriage and
family. We shall be careful not to turn the canon law into a bad
news about the good news. Love alone shall be the final criterion.

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