Sixth Sunday of Easter
Intro: our lives constantly change and evolve. In today's Gospel, we hear Jesus preparing His apostles for His imminent departure, promising them that He will leave them everything they need to continue His work of proclaiming the Good News. It will be a huge change for them, but He reminds them that if they love Him and keep His word, they will experience the power of His Holy Spirit Who will guide and strengthen them.
Readings: disagreement and differences of opinion came quickly to the early Church. But they are worked through by argument, consultation, attentive listening to the Holy Spirit, and prayer.
Acts 15: 1-2, 22-29;
Apocalypse 21: 10-14, 22-23;
John 14: 23-29 John again shares his vision of the new Holy City, the Church, which will be lit by God's radiant glory.
Today's readings carry with them a real sense of growth and development in the understanding of the faith. In Acts, we see the early Church coming to grips with questions surrounding non-Jews - pagans, gentiles - becoming Christians. Some Jewish converts to Christianity had retained certain Jewish traditions, notably circumcision, and the debate raged on whether or not non-Jewish converts required to be circumcised. The matter was solved after long discussion and prayer - the Kingdom of God was to be all-inclusive, accepting people from different back grounds and traditions, as long as they were united in a common belief in Jesus as Lord and Saviour.
This is accentuated and reinforced in the second reading, where John's vision of the new Jerusalem coming down from Heaven requires no temple building - God's presence will not be confined to a particular time or place; Jesus Himself is the new Temple.
The peace which He offers is the assurance that everything in our lives is under His control and that, whatever happens, His love for us is never diminished. We'll experience that peace more fully as we come to trust in Him, and realise that we can not only hand over our fears and worries to Him, but also that He can handle them for us. That involves constantly growth and change in our understanding of Jesus and the Church in a fresh light.
Change, loss, moving on - these things shape our lives at all levels. At best they're unsettling, at worst, they're distressing. But in our Christian living, they're moments with potential for grace, where the Spirit seeks to come and lead us on. St. John Henry Cardinal Newman once remarked, "To live is to change. To be perfect is to have changed often."
Today, we're called to look on how we respond to change - in our own lives, in the lives of those we love, and within the Church and the world. Perhaps, when things aren't going according to our plan, when we don't particularly like what our parents, our children, our friends, our church or even our boss are suggesting, perhaps then is the moment to pray, "Come, Holy Spirit!"
Our faith journey of conversion is not so much a single event as a life-long process of maturing and drawing ever closer to Him. We journey as members of the Body of Christ, supported and inspired by the Spirit of the living God. Christ asks His disciples not to be troubled or afraid. And that's what He asks of us as well. Because He's left us a companion for our journey to Him - One Who will quell all our fears and anxieties about the future. It doesn't mean to say that there won't be debates or arguments in today's Church But it should be possible to disagree and still love one another enough to listen and understand the other's viewpoint.
Intercessions
Jesus promised us that we would never be left without His help. As members of His Body, the Church, we seek that help now, as we offer these prayers to our Father:
1. For the universal Church, especially our Holy Father. May we continue to seek a deeper understanding of our faith, and live it out in love, so that there may truly be one fold and one Shepherd - Lord, hear us.
2. For Ukraine, Russia, and nations throughout our world. May leaders and governments have the moral courage and faith to uphold the Gospel values of truth, justice and peace - Lord, hear us.
3. For those whose hearts are troubled; for homes and families where there is conflict and disunity. May their friends help them rediscover love and re-establish calm and understanding - Lord, hear us.
4. For our young people who are on study leave and sitting their exams. We pray for their success. Give them a strong faith which wiH enable them to face their future with complete confidence in Your love for them - Lord, hear us.
5. For William McPake who died recently: and for the anniversaries of Bill Masterson, Catherine McCullagh, Margaret O'Hagan and Jim Millar. May they find the eternal rest won for them by Your Son's sacrifice on the cross - Lord, hear us.
Lord, hear our prayers, and may the way we live our daily lives help bring about peace in our world.