Sixth Sunday of Easter (Year A)

Acts 8.5-8, 14-17;  
I Pet 3.15-18;  
Jn 14.15-21

YOUR LOVE FOR JESUS IS DETERMINED BY YOUR OBEDIENCE TO HIS COMMANDMENTS

As the Easter season continues, we have been meditating on the appearances of our blessed Lord to His disciples after His resurrection from the dead, Christ prepares them for that great eventuality: He promises that, although He is going to leave them in the flesh, He is not abandoning them. They must have wondered, how would Christ leave them; they who have left everything for His sake? No, on the contrary, He and the Father will send the Holy Spirit to them, to be their comforter and their guide.  Christ’s time on earth revealing the reality of God in a manner that those who saw and heard Him physically could begin to understand are about to come to a close; the Spirit will now help them to understand the meaning, the fullness of this revelation. And one of the great mysteries of this revelation, of the life of God is the Trinity; that God, without in any way compromising His unity, is three persons. And this is a teaching which is very much at the forefront of the Church’s life at this time of year: next Thursday, we will celebrate the feast of the Ascension, the return of our lord in his glorified body to the bosom of the Father; ten days after that, the great feast of Pentecost, the descent of the Holy Spirit; and the following Sunday is celebrated as Trinity Sunday.

It is the coming of the Spirit of God which is the foundation for our faith and our hope, and the foundation of our Church. It is the power of God and our own future with God which gives us confidence in the Church. Hope means wanting something which has been promised to us. If someone we trust promises us something, then we believe we will get it, and we want it. We look forward to the day when the gift will be ours. The whole character of our days changes and we are filled with hope. And so today, we place ourselves with Mary, the Mother of God and Mother of the Church in the upper room, waiting in hope for the promise of our Lord to be fulfilled, that the Holy Spirit will come and be our comforter and our guide in the truth; that he will work in us, the individual members of the institutional Church, members of the body of Christ, and bring us to a greater love of God. The closer we all draw towards almighty God, then necessarily, the closer we will be to each other, one in faith, one in hope, and one in charity. “Father, may they all be one in us, as you are in me and I am in you.”

Fr Joseph Osho