Whoever has my commandments and observes them
is the one who loves me.
And whoever loves me will be loved by my Father,
and I will love him and reveal myself to him.”
is the one who loves me.
And whoever loves me will be loved by my Father,
and I will love him and reveal myself to him.”
May 29, 2011
Sixth Sunday of Easter
Sixth Sunday of Easter
Reading 1
Philip went down to the city of Samaria
and proclaimed the Christ to them.
With one accord, the crowds paid attention to what was said by Philip
when they heard it and saw the signs he was doing.
For unclean spirits, crying out in a loud voice,
came out of many possessed people,
and many paralyzed or crippled people were cured.
There was great joy in that city.
and proclaimed the Christ to them.
With one accord, the crowds paid attention to what was said by Philip
when they heard it and saw the signs he was doing.
For unclean spirits, crying out in a loud voice,
came out of many possessed people,
and many paralyzed or crippled people were cured.
There was great joy in that city.
Now when the apostles in Jerusalem
heard that Samaria had accepted the word of God,
they sent them Peter and John,
who went down and prayed for them,
that they might receive the Holy Spirit,
for it had not yet fallen upon any of them;
they had only been baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus.
Then they laid hands on them
and they received the Holy Spirit.
heard that Samaria had accepted the word of God,
they sent them Peter and John,
who went down and prayed for them,
that they might receive the Holy Spirit,
for it had not yet fallen upon any of them;
they had only been baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus.
Then they laid hands on them
and they received the Holy Spirit.
Philip is not one of the Twelve but one of the Greeks chosen by the Christian community because he was full of wisdom and the Holy Spirit. He preaches and baptises but the leaders from Jerusalem go and lay hands on the new converts. They receive the Spirit as in the Sacrament of Confirmation. There are three Sacraments of Christian Initiation: Baptism by which we are born again, sanctified and become the Children of God, Confirmation by which we receive the Holy Spirit and his Gifts so that we can become mature and witnessing Believers and the Holy Eucharist. The Holy Eucharist being the Body and Blood of the Risen Christ nourishes the Life of God within us till we grow to the full stature of Christ.
Responsorial Psalm
R. (1) Let all the earth cry out to God with joy.
or:
R. Alleluia.
Shout joyfully to God, all the earth,
sing praise to the glory of his name;
proclaim his glorious praise.
Say to God, “How tremendous are your deeds!”
Reading 2
Beloved:
Sanctify Christ as Lord in your hearts.
Always be ready to give an explanation
to anyone who asks you for a reason for your hope,
but do it with gentleness and reverence,
keeping your conscience clear,
so that, when you are maligned,
those who defame your good conduct in Christ
may themselves be put to shame.
For it is better to suffer for doing good,
if that be the will of God, than for doing evil.
Sanctify Christ as Lord in your hearts.
Always be ready to give an explanation
to anyone who asks you for a reason for your hope,
but do it with gentleness and reverence,
keeping your conscience clear,
so that, when you are maligned,
those who defame your good conduct in Christ
may themselves be put to shame.
For it is better to suffer for doing good,
if that be the will of God, than for doing evil.
For Christ also suffered for sins once,
the righteous for the sake of the unrighteous,
that he might lead you to God.
Put to death in the flesh,
he was brought to life in the Spirit.
the righteous for the sake of the unrighteous,
that he might lead you to God.
Put to death in the flesh,
he was brought to life in the Spirit.
We are to enthrone Christ in our hearts. He is to be the Lord of our Life and everything we do is to be done because it is his will. By accepting Jesus as Lord we surrender our own will to him. We are to be his person in this world. We live by his values and do only what is pleasing to him. All we do is to further his cause.
Gospel
Jesus said to his disciples:
“If you love me, you will keep my commandments.
And I will ask the Father,
and he will give you another Advocate to be with you always,
the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot accept,
because it neither sees nor knows him.
But you know him, because he remains with you,
and will be in you.
I will not leave you orphans; I will come to you.
In a little while the world will no longer see me,
but you will see me, because I live and you will live.
On that day you will realize that I am in my Father
and you are in me and I in you.
Whoever has my commandments and observes them
is the one who loves me.
And whoever loves me will be loved by my Father,
and I will love him and reveal myself to him.”
“If you love me, you will keep my commandments.
And I will ask the Father,
and he will give you another Advocate to be with you always,
the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot accept,
because it neither sees nor knows him.
But you know him, because he remains with you,
and will be in you.
I will not leave you orphans; I will come to you.
In a little while the world will no longer see me,
but you will see me, because I live and you will live.
On that day you will realize that I am in my Father
and you are in me and I in you.
Whoever has my commandments and observes them
is the one who loves me.
And whoever loves me will be loved by my Father,
and I will love him and reveal myself to him.”
Jesus shows himself now.
In today’s Gospel Jesus makes the firm promise that after his departure we will not be left alone. “The Father will give you another Advocate to be with you forever, the Spirit of truth”. Jesus says I will not leave you orphans, but I will come back to you”, “You will see me”. This return of Jesus is not just being with us but “you in me and I in you”. Then he makes the supreme promise that if we love him and keep his commandments then both he and the Father will love us and that he, Jesus, will show himself to us.
We will have another Advocate, Jesus will come back to us, he in us and we in him, we will see him and he will reveal himself to us. Is it true?
Our faith and our religion are not just words, not just some kind of imagination, a hope based on make-believe. These promises are to become real in our life. They are to be an experience.
The question is: have I experienced the presence of Jesus? Have I seen Jesus? Do I feel the strength of the Holy Spirit?
First and foremost, we need to want to know Jesus. Nothing happens unless we want it and the more we want it the more it will happen. This means we will give time to getting to know him. We won’t leave it to the last moment of the day when we are exhausted. It won’t be something extra. We will make it a priority in our life. The more we make him a priority then naturally the more Jesus will come to us. We will give time to reading his Gospel and meditating on his Word and so come to know him. Through our prayer we will come to love him and by keeping his commandments we will prove our love. His commandment is that we love others as he has loved us. It is a love that has no limit and by loving as Jesus does then we fulfil all the other commandments since if we love then we will never do any kind of harm. Then in our prayer we will experience the presence of Jesus and in others, particularly those in need, we will see Jesus and minister to him in them.
This experience of Jesus and the Holy Spirit is not something that we create by our imagination but it is the peace and realization of Jesus’ presence which wells up in our hearts. He becomes our inspiration in times of trouble and in persecution our strength and consolation. We experience all these and enjoy his peace.
Finding Jesus is finding the treasure hidden in the field. Are you looking for this treasure?
Father may we who know Jesus by faith come to love and serve him so that he may reveal himself to us.
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