Sixth Sunday of Easter
Readings:
Acts 15:1-2,22-29
Apocalypse 21:10-14,22-23
John 14:23-29
Reflection:
It seems odd writing a reflection for a Sunday. This far out from Easter Sunday 6, I haven’t even thought of this Sunday’s sermon for Mother’s Day, let alone a fortnights time. And why write anyway? Being a Sunday, you will, of course, either be listening to a homily at mass, – or be giving one.
Preaching on John can be a real homiletic challenge. John never needs more words. In John, Jesus at the Last Supper needed five chapters. NO, John doesn’t need more words, John needs silence, His gospel is better read, meditated on, absorbed so Christ’s words can sink into the heart and do their work there. Just listening at a Sunday mass isn’t the best way to absorb what John offers. John needs a quiet garden, or sitting by the fire, or sitting watching the ocean, a walk among the autumn leaves.
The Advice in the first reading from Acts of the Apostles is much more practical, straight shooting. It hits you between the eyes and doesn’t need much soul searching. “It has been decided by the Holy Spirit and by ourselves not to saddle you with any burden beyond these essentials: you are to abstain from food sacrificed to idols; from blood, from the meat of strangled animals and from fornication. Avoid these, and you will do what is right. Farewell.’ Pretty obvious and not too difficult to follow for most of us, I think. Not sure why the Church thought we needed this advice.
Perhaps today we would say:
- Switch off your devices ands witch on your conscience.
- Don’t treat others as if they were disposable,
- Don’t confuse loud opinions with truth.
- Life is not all about you so Be humble enough to change your mind or admit you are wrong
John can be so beautiful and poetic. He is not called John the Divine for nothing, and in today’s Gospel he most certainly is:
“ Peace I bequeath to you,
my own peace I give you,
a peace the world cannot give,
this is my gift to you.
Do not let your hearts be troubled or afraid”
As always, John’s words aren’t advice about what we should do. They are meant to be absorbed in a comforting silence. So, after mass, find some time and a quiet place, to let peace pervade you. After all, that is what Sundays are for.
Listen to this gorgeous chant Ubi Caritas: Where there is love, there the love of God abides. CLICK HERE
Tom Mcdonough CP is the parish priest and community leader at St. Paul of the Cross, Glen Osmond.