A Homily - The Seventh Sunday of Easter (Year A)

The Ascension, A Holy Day of Obligation

 

First Reading – Acts 1:12-14 ©

Responsorial Psalm – Psalm 26(27):1,4, 7-8 ©

Second Reading – 1 Peter 4:13-16 ©

Gospel Acclamation – John 14:18

The Gospel According to John 17:1-11 ©

 

(NJB)

 

Be mindful!

 Prayer is good, it works well as an articulation of intention and as a vehicle for hope, it amounts to little without love.

 Go out and do good, be charitable to one another as Jesus was…that is the way, and that is what we are meant to take away from today’s reading in the Book of Acts.

 God is good.

 Open your eyes and you will see God’s goodness, you will see the goodness of God even in the faces of your adversaries. The divine spirit dwells within them as it dwells within you.

 See them; see that God is good.

 Open your ears and you will hear God’s goodness, even in the murmurs of your opponents. We are all children of the divine.

 Listen to them; hear from them that God is good.

 God loves you, as God loves all people; open your heart, even to your enemies, invite them to your table, share your bread and water, your wine if you have it.

 Be mindful!

 We share in the sufferings of Christ only when we are serving as ministers of justice, divine-justice as an exhibition of mercy, mercy as an expression of infinite compassion.

 Know this!

 If you are suffering and it is not because of the love you bear for all people, then your suffering is not the suffering of Christ.

 Be humble!

 Do not boast of your suffering, it is unseemly and arrogant. You will get nothing extra for your service to God, your share in God’s blessing is the same as that of anyone and everyone.

 Remember the how the wages were paid to those who labored in the vineyard.

 God loves all people equally, from the first moment of creation to the verry last syllable of time, the divine spirit rests on all people, in all times and places, the divine spirits animates the totality and everyone in it without distinction, each of us shares in the same inheritance, the measure of which is love.

 Good and bad, we are the same. God, the creator of the universe, God abandon’s no-one. God will leave no orphans, no-one shall be set apart or stranded in the dark of night. Not one of us will be lost.

 Consider the Gospel for today. Consider how the apostles get it wrong…again.

 Be mindful of how the writers of John’s Gospel reveal their fundamental misunderstanding of Jesus and mission.

 Strive to be more patient than they were.

 Listen!

 The ministry of Jesus was centered on real people, actual people living real lives, facing real hardship in the real world. He was focused on us, here on Earth, on those who lived with him. He was not playing for the heavens, or some imagined and ephemeral mode of self-aggrandizement and glorification.

 Jesus was not here to seek glory, or power, or dominion over mankind; that is not the way.

 Jesus was selfless; he gave everything away, including his life. He gave it all away to save the lives of those he loved.

 There is a kind of power in this, but it is not power in the sense of force or energy, it is not power in the sense of military might.

 Our word power, comes from the Latin potens, potare, meaning ability, both actual and potential.

 The power Jesus demonstrated was intrinsically bound to his capacity for love, he showed us that we could posses this power too, if we followed the way and kept our trust in God.

 Jesus was not a Gnostic, but the writers of John would make him out to be one.

 Jesus did not teach a secret doctrine, he himself wrote nothing down. He taught by the word of his mouth and more significantly, through his actions: by healing and sharing, in community service, in his role as a prophet.

 Remember this:

 Jesus prayed, but he only gave us one prayer, and in that prayer he only asked for bread to feed the people, for mercy, and for the strength to be merciful.

 

First Reading – Acts 1:12-14 ©

The Apostles All Joined in Continuous Prayer

After Jesus was taken up into heaven the apostles went back from the Mount of Olives, as it is called, to Jerusalem, a short distance away, no more than a sabbath walk; and when they reached the city they went to the upper room where they were staying; there were Peter and John, James and Andrew, Philip and Thomas, Bartholomew and Matthew, James son of Alphaeus and Simon the Zealot, and Jude son of James. All these joined in continuous prayer, together with several women, including Mary the mother of Jesus, and with his brothers.

 

Responsorial Psalm – Psalm 26(27):1,4, 7-8 ©

I am sure I shall see the Lord’s goodness in the land of the living.

Alleluia!

The Lord is my light and my help;

  whom shall I fear?

The Lord is the stronghold of my life;

  before whom shall I shrink?

I am sure I shall see the Lord’s goodness in the land of the living.

There is one thing I ask of the Lord,

  for this I long,

to live in the house of the Lord,

  all the days of my life,

to savour the sweetness of the Lord,

  to behold his temple.

I am sure I shall see the Lord’s goodness in the land of the living.

O Lord, hear my voice when I call;

  have mercy and answer.

Of you my heart has spoken:

  ‘Seek his face.’

I am sure I shall see the Lord’s goodness in the land of the living.

Alleluia!

 

Second Reading – 1 Peter 4:13-16 ©

It is a Blessing for You When They Insult You for Bearing the Name of Christ

If you can have some share in the sufferings of Christ, be glad, because you will enjoy a much greater gladness when his glory is revealed. It is a blessing for you when they insult you for bearing the name of Christ, because it means that you have the Spirit of glory, the Spirit of God resting on you. None of you should ever deserve to suffer for being a murderer, a thief, a criminal or an informer; but if anyone of you should suffer for being a Christian, then he is not to be ashamed of it; he should thank God that he has been called one.

 

Gospel Acclamation – John 14:18

Alleluia, alleluia!

I will not leave you orphans, says the Lord;I will come back to you, and your hearts will be full of joy.

Alleluia!

 

The Gospel According to John 17:1-11 ©

Father, It is Time for You to Glorify Me

Jesus raised his eyes to heaven and said:

‘Father, the hour has come: glorify your Son so that your Son may glorify you; and, through the power over all mankind that you have given him, let him give eternal life to all those you have entrusted to him.

And eternal life is this: to know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent. I have glorified you on earth and finished the work that you gave me to do. Now, Father, it is time for you to glorify me with that glory I had with you before ever the world was. I have made your name known to the men you took from the world to give me.

They were yours and you gave them to me, and they have kept your word. Now at last they know that all you have given me comes indeed from you; for I have given them the teaching you gave to me, and they have truly accepted this, that I came from you, and have believed that it was you who sent me.

I pray for them; I am not praying for the world but for those you have given me, because they belong to you: all I have is yours and all you have is mine, and in them I am glorified. I am not in the world any longer, but they are in the world, and I am coming to you.’

 

The Seventh Sunday of Easter (Year A) The Ascension