Sunday 14th May 2023 - Sixth Sunday of Easter

Acts 8:5-8,14-17/ Psalm 65(66)/ 1 Peter 3:15-18/ John 14:15-21

Increasingly today it seems that we are becoming a divided society. Factions in arguments become polarised opening ever wider gulfs between them. Peace, even among our own communities yet alone in the world, seems to be an elusive prospect when the courtesy and respect mentioned in the second reading today is often lacking. Showing good manners and reverence to each other does not mean that we disengage from discussion. When questioned about aspects of our faith, now often out of step with modern thinking, we need to be ready with an answer rather than eager for an argument or an inclination to remain silent. Our faith gives us a hope that many today do not have. A faithless society has difficulty in seeing beyond this life on earth leading many to seek as much satisfaction and happiness as they can during their short lifetime. Our hope is not in this physical life but comes from way beyond our flesh and blood existence. We look forward to an eternal life in a union with God and all those who are destined for heaven. This is the hope we have as Christians and should be visible to others provoking the question, what have we got that they do not have and how can they obtain this hope for themselves?

After revealing himself to be God, Jesus then went on to reveal something of the nature of God. We have a trinitarian God, one God but made up of three persons, God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. A concept that is outside of our human understanding but a fundamental truth none the less. If we think about it the trinitarian God makes perfect sense. If God is the definition of love, then it is impossible for that God to be a single entity because love requires to be shared. In our God that love is not only shared between the three persons within the Trinity, but it is a boundless love that envelopes all of us. This is what Jesus means when he says, ‘I am in the Father, you are in me and I in you’. This is a unity of perfect love that we become part of through baptism.

In baptism we become grafted into the Trinity by becoming part of the Body of Christ. We receive the commandments from God, and we try to keep them as best we can throughout our lives. The concept of commandments may invoke negative responses to rules, regulations, and restrictions. The opposite is true and by keeping the commandments as Jesus told us to do we achieve a freedom that cannot be obtained from human made rules and laws.

Jesus was about to leave his disciples and return to heaven, not be seen in person again until his promised return. We do not know when that will be and, in the meantime, Jesus has sent The Holy Spirit to be with us and guide us through this life. Jesus referred to the Holy Spirit as the Advocate, a legal term for someone who stands by one’s side, to represent and defend us. The Holy Spirit does much more than this and is the driving force, the power behind God’s church on earth. In the Acts of the Apostles, we can feel the power of the Holy Spirit as the early church grew and spread rapidly. That power is still with us and can work through us as it did in those early days. The Holy Spirit makes Jesus present to us even though he is not here in a physical sense. During the consecration at Mass the priest calls on the Holy Spirit to make Jesus present in the bread and wine offered on the altar so that we can receive Jesus in Holy Communion. This unites us not only with each other but with God the Father, Son and Holy Spirit and is a truly wonderful unity of God’s love.

In the first reading we see how the church spread rapidly out from Jerusalem because of persecution following the death of Stephen. It seems that over the centuries the church grows strongest when being persecuted. Faith appears to have so much more meaning when it is under threat than when things are relatively easy. All but one of the Apostles died because of their profession of faith in Jesus and we have an army of martyrs who have done the same down the years. We might not be called to die for our faith, but we are called to stand up for what we believe and what all these people suffered and died for. Our suffering is more likely to be that of ridicule and ostracization from society. It might even mean the loss of employment as increasingly our faith is challenged by the civil law and the demands it makes on various professions.

When we feel that our faith is being challenged and our life here is threatened by the world, we can have confidence in the power of the Holy Spirit. In the first reading the people of Samaria had received their faith through baptism and then received the power of the Holy Spirit. In the sacrament of Confirmation, we also receive the Holy Spirit and the gifts the Spirit brings to embolden us to live out our Christian lives in a challenging world. We can be confident that we are enveloped by the unity of love in the Trinity. When we are being judged in the courtroom of the world it is heartening to remember who our defence lawyer, our advocate, is.

God Bless Brendan.