5th Friday of Easter
8 May 2026
I chose you
In the Gospel today, Jesus says something that cuts against the way we usually think about faith: “It was not you who chose me, but I who chose you and appointed you to go and bear fruit that will remain.” Most of us instinctively think of faith as our decision, our search, our response. And certainly our response matters. But Jesus begins somewhere deeper. Before the apostles ever followed Him, before they understood Him, before they were even faithful to Him, He chose the 12.
This Gospel takes place in the Upper Room during the Farewell Discourse. Jesus is speaking on the night before His Passion. Judas has already left. The Cross is approaching. And in that setting, Jesus is preparing the apostles not just emotionally, but sacramentally and ecclesially for what is coming next.
This is the same night He instituted the Eucharist. The same night He gave the command, “Do this in memory of me.” The same night He washed their feet. The same night He began preparing them for the gift of the Holy Spirit and the life of the Church after His Ascension.
So when Jesus says, “I chose you,” He is not speaking vaguely. He is speaking to men He is appointing and sending. Men who will become the foundation stones of the Church. Men through whom the Gospel, the sacraments, and the apostolic ministry will continue in the world.
And then He says why He chose them: “to go and bear fruit that will remain.” Not temporary fruit. Not passing enthusiasm. Fruit that remains.
Throughout John’s Gospel, Jesus is always speaking about permanence, communion, abiding. Earlier this week we heard: “I am the true vine… remain in me.” The fruit only remains because it stays connected to the vine.
That means Christianity is not simply about having an experience of Jesus once. It is about remaining in Him continuously. And for Catholics, that remaining is not merely symbolic or invisible.
We remain in Him through the Church He established. We remain in Him through the apostolic faith handed on from those very men in the Upper Room. We remain in Him through prayer and obedience to His word. And we remain in Him sacramentally, especially through the Eucharist instituted that very night.
Jesus here is not giving the apostles abstract spiritual ideas. He is establishing a communion that will continue after His death and Resurrection. The Last Supper is not just a farewell meal; it is the beginning of the sacramental life of the Church.
And this helps explain something important about the Christian life. Jesus does not say, “Produce fruit on your own.” He says, “Remain in me.” The fruit is the consequence of communion. A branch does not strain to produce grapes. It remains connected to the vine, and life flows into it.
That is the heart of Catholic spirituality. The Christian life is not self-generated moral effort. It is participation in divine life. Grace flows into us through communion with Christ.
That’s why the sacraments matter. That’s why the Mass matters. That’s why the Church matters. Because Christianity is not merely imitation from the outside; it is union from the inside.
And this is also why Jesus places this teaching within the commandment to love: “Love one another as I love you.” Because the fruit He desires is not merely activity or success. It is Christlike love flowing through His people.
And notice something else. Jesus calls them friends. “I no longer call you slaves.” A slave obeys without understanding. But Jesus says, “Everything that I heard from my Father I have made known to you.” He draws them into His own relationship with the Father.
That is what the Church continues. Not merely to preserve information, but to draw people into communion with the life of God.
So the question today is not merely, “Did I choose Jesus?” The deeper question is: am I remaining in the One who first chose me?
Because fruit that remains does not come from occasional contact with Christ. It comes from abiding in Him.
And the remarkable thing is this: before we ever reached for Him, He first reached for us. He chose us. He called us. And He continues to give us His own life so that His life may bear fruit in us.