Sunday Scripture Readings

Printer-friendly versionSend to friend SIXTH SUNDAY OF EASTER, MAY 16 Acts 15:1-2, 22-29; Psalm 67; Revelation 21:10-14, 22-23; John 14:23-29 OUR GOOD NEWS: The Holy Spirit, working in the Church, brings us to intimate union with the Father through the Son. Future verbs in the opening sentence of today’s Gospel — "My Father will love him; We will come to him and make our dwelling place with him always" — do not refer to heavenly life after death but to Christian existence here and now, after Jesus’ resurrection. This intimate faith-union between ourselves and God is no mystical experience limited to a few contemplatives but accessible to all with the right dispositions: "love" for Jesus expressed through careful obedience ("keeping My word"). St. Paul similarly wrote of life "in Christ"; and insisted that, as a result of baptism, our bodies replace the temple Holy of Holies as God’s own "dwelling place." "Heaven" comes to us in our ordinary, everyday living! This intimate presence of Father and Son in each of us believers is not contradicted by Jesus’ promise of "the Holy Spirit whom the Father will send in My name," for the other two Divine Persons remain inseparable from the Spirit. Not surprisingly, Jesus promised this "Helper" at the Last Supper, with His own suffering and death imminent. As His disciples, we share His adversary relation to "the world," the technical term for humankind in opposition to God. The Spirit builds upon rather than replaces Jesus’ earthly mission (to "teach and remind"). All the lasting effects of Jesus’ death and resurrection are summed up in His parting gift of "shalom." "Peace be with you," like the modern "have a nice day," normally serves as a polite but ineffective hello or goodbye. "The world gives peace" ineffectually by saying the words; Jesus gives peace — fullness of life and happiness — by making it happen. Like the disciples at the Last Supper about to witness Jesus’ own rejection and death, we too must anticipate difficulties and trials in our own lives. Like them, we are invited to "rejoice" in the loss of Jesus’ physical presence because only in going can He come and abide through His incomparable gift of the Spirit, mediator of the Divine Presence within us and enabler of perseverance in faithful obedience. "The Father is greater than I" does not deny Jesus’ full divinity. It affirms the Son as the faithful "Other" who fully lives out and communicates the Father’s will rather than His own. In sum, today’s Gospel shows how Christian living is grounded in paradox. First, Jesus is more intimately present now, in His Church, than He had been during earthly life. Second, we are called to profound joy and peace, while assured that suffering and every sort of diminishment characterizes authentic Christian living. Third, the Trinitarian Mystery lies at the heart of revelation. The Father can be encountered in His fullness only though the Son, and the Son is revealed only through the Spirit. The intimate bond of love joining the Trinity of persons into one Godhead is graciously opened up to include us!

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