Readings: Acts of the Apostles 6, 1-7; Psalm 33, Lord, let your Mercy be upon Us, as we place our Trust in You; 1 Peter 2, 4-9; John 14, 1-12
Sixth Sunday of Easter – Intro to the Reading
Because we have been reading from Acts and Peter’s First Letter for the past several weeks I thought today I would focus on John’s Gospel. It is very different from Matthew, Mark and Luke, better known as the Synoptic Gospels. They were written earlier than John, and their style is more story or history. Both Matthew and Luke start their gospels with an account of the birth of Jesus, Mark begins when John the Baptist baptizes Jesus as an adult at the Jordan. St. John begins his gospel with the cryptic phrase “ in the beginning was the word and the word was God and the word was with God”. John’s community was a group that had been evicted from the Jewish faith. Thus in this gospel there is a great deal of animosity between Jesus and “the Jews”. A few weeks ago I mentioned that one of the features of John’s gospel was to show that each of the major Jewish feasts have been reinterpreted by Jesus. There is another way to look at the gospel. The first part can be described as the Book of Signs, where Jesus does a whole lot of miracles. The second half is the Book of Glory. It is from Chapter 13 to the end. But chapters 13 to 17 are the Last Supper and there are long monologues from Jesus to his disciples. Incidentally John does not refer to them as apostles but always as disciples. Four chapters are dedicated to the Last Supper. Our reading today is taken from this section of the gospel. And some of these chapters are repetitions. It suggests that the gospel has been reworked and added to by later writers, because the theme of not abandoning the disciples in today’s reading comes up again, almost word for word, two chapters later. If there is anything, which becomes clear in the discussion during the last supper, it is that the disciples just do not understand Jesus’ mission.
Homily
This past Sunday at Notre Dame College, during the graduation ceremonies, the Laetare Medal (“Truth is mighty, and it shall prevail.”) was presented to Sr. Mary Scullion and Joan McConnon for their work with Project H.O.M.E., which they both started some 30 years ago in Philadelphia. During her acceptance speech, Sr. Mary made the following comment, which seemed to me to fit perfectly with what I wanted to talk about this morning. She said, “our faith doesn’t give us answers, it gives us courage”.
Each of our readings today focus in one-way or another on the early Church. We have just read from St. John’s Gospel Jesus trying to assure his disciples that even though He is going away, He isn’t going to be far away!
In the Acts of the Apostles we hear of early success as the community expands beyond Jerusalem to Samaria and Peter and John being sent to that little community to strengthen them with the Holy Spirit.
Finally in our reading from the Letter of Peter, Peter is writing to another little community, which needs encouragement. They are surrounded by non-Christians and are feeling insecure in their faith.
You would think that having been around for over 2,000 years these feelings of abandonment, weakness and the need for encouragement would be long gone – and yet I feel exactly as those early communities and those disciples felt, so long ago.
When Vatican II was held, there was a great sense of excitement. It was said at the time that Pope John XXIII threw open the windows of the church and the Holy Spirit was able to get back in again. There was a great sense of renewal and fresh new life in the church.
In recent times, with the huge exodus of Catholics from the church, that group who has left would make up the second largest church in America if they were together. The decline of vocations to the priesthood, the shame and disgrace of the pedophile scandal, and with the current mighty efforts to undo much of what was done at the Second Vatican Council. The church’s refusal to even consider discussing having women ordained priests, I feel that the Holy Spirit must have gone away again.
This is why today’s readings are important for me. I need to be reminded that in spite of all of this, the Holy Spirit is very much alive. He is present in the hundreds of small faith communities such as ours, which are being formed all over the country. In two weeks time in Detroit, over 40 of those communities will be gathering as the American Catholic Council to celebrate the 50th anniversary of Vatican II. These little communities are led by the Spirit. They are celebrating God’s presence in their midst. They are doing what we do each week. Come together, listen to God’s Word, break bread together and reach out to those in need, whether it is the CCAC, the Plano Homes, MyFriend's House, Habitat for Humanity or the people in Tuscaloosa, AL whom you heard about last week.
It is all of these things, which convince me that we are not abandoned. The Holy Spirit is very present here in our community and in all of those other communities today. That presence of the Holy Spirit may not give us the answers, but does give us the courage to follow Jesus’ command to love.
Picture 1: Mass begins
Picture 2: Offertory with Charlotte & Geri
Picture 3: Communion Helpers
Picture 4: Communion
Picture 5: Leo with his buddy, Richard
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