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Pentecost Sunday

This Sunday We celebrate the great feast of Pentecost and it takes place 50 days after Easter Sunday, marking the end of Eastertide. We hear in the account from the Acts of the Apostles how Jews from all over were gathered in Jerusalem to celebrate the Jewish feast. It is recorded that 120 people, including Mary and the Apostles were in the upper room where they had seen Christ after his resurrection. They had been told by Jesus  just before he ascended, to wait there to receive ‘what the father has promised, power from on high’ His holy spirit. On Pentecost Sunday the sound of a mighty wind filled the room, witnesses saw what looked like tongues of fire resting on each person’s head and despite being from different parts of the world they could all communicate and understand to each other Pentecost is the birthday of the church

With the feast of Pentecost the seven weeks of Easter have come to an end, Christ’s Passover is fulfilled with the outpouring of the Holy Spirit, manifested, given, and communicated as a divine person: of his fullness, Christ, the Lord, pours out the Spirit in abundance.  In the Gospel reading, Jesus, gives the apostles the power to forgive and reconcile those who sin. By the time John wrote his gospel, Jewish Christians had been excommunicated for their belief in Jesus. Ostracized and socially persecuted, some Christians reacted in fear, while others boldly proclaimed the gospel. The First Christians needed a sense of stability, a sense of serenity and peace. Through the words of Jesus, “Peace” was John’s prayer for his readers as it is for us as we listen to this gospel reading. With the sight of Jesus, fear turned into great joy. Anxiety turned into relief. Desperation turned into vindication. Most important, a lack of spiritual direction turned into a sense of deep spiritual grounding.

The divine presence stood close to them and with the divine presence came peace.  We too have the divine presence with us  in the Blessed Sacrament and it brings Joy and spiritual grounding to all those who come and Jesus says to each and every one you are welcome. We can’t ignore the problems that are there for ourselves and those around us. Most of the time, the problems just don’t go away by themselves very often we need to stop and pray through the problems as well as thinking them through.  Gathered at the Eucharist we bring our prayers to God. We each have our own needs. Family and friends may be sick.  Kids need work. The person who has been in our lives for so long has died.  We bring these and all our concerns in prayer to church because they remind us of our need and they raise our hopes in the power of God made real to every generation through the Holy Spirit.  

Through the Holy Spirit our relationship with God produces fruitfulness, satisfies our longings, and brings us serenity and peace. Because of God’s faithfulness, we give thanks, offer sacrifice, and once again present our needs as we remember the presence of God with us in all our lives.  As we encounter people who are different from us, whether in language, culture, or background, the Holy Spirit will give us the words and the wisdom to share the Good News with them. In today’s world, we are called to be ambassadors of Christ’s love, reaching out to all people with compassion and understanding. We must be willing to listen to their stories, to learn from their experiences, and to share the Gospel in a way that speaks to their hearts. So on this feast of Pentecost, let us renew our commitment to the Holy Spirit and ask for the grace to be open to the Spirit’s guidance in our lives.

Ascension

Over our lives we have seen or we will see the departure of so many people, Perhaps it is a son or daughter leaving for university or maybe it was someone leaving to go to another country on the other side of the world or the hardest departure of all someone close to us dying. Our lives are made up of so many different times and places of leave-taking and that is what Ascension is really about Jesus leaving the Apostles to return to the Father. The Apostles must have felt awful as  Jesus  told them and us go therefore make disciples of all the nations and know that I am with you yes to the end of time. This Gospel reading is all about the past the present and the future. It is about ourselves in the here and now of today, and what we are doing to make disciples of all the nations in 2023 or at least making disciples of those around us perhaps our families and friends.

In this gospel reading Jesus has little to say, but he is definite about what he has to say when he speaks. This is in sharp contrast to the fact that, even at this last minute, some of his disciples still doubted. The disciples did what he told them to do. He asked them to meet him on the mountain, and they did that. Like any gathering of people, their feelings were varied. Some of them worshipped him, while some of them still doubted. Jesus didn’t seem to have any great problem with that, because he knew that, when the Spirit came, all of those doubts would be ended. It would seem, indeed, that he was in a hurry to take his leave of them, so that the second part of his plan of salvation could get underway. The mission of the apostles was simple to understand; difficult to carry out. It was to teach others all that Jesus had taught them. Just as he asked his disciples to follow him, they were to ask that others should follow him which was so hard then and especially hard in the world of today.

The programme of redemption and salvation was to begin at Pentecost and continue from generation to generation, until the end of time.So many things have changed in the Church and society over the years especially in more recent times. However two things that have not changed are Jesus himself and his message as they are always new for each generation. The message of Jesus is ignored by many people inside and outside the Church for their own reasons. The essential message of God and Jesus his Son have never changed up to now and I don’t think that the message  will ever change. Again and again we need to ask ourselves what we are doing to make disciples of all the nations realizing that Jesus and his message are always new for each generation. May we be heralds of the message of Jesus this Ascension as we go forward with faith.

6th Sunday of Easter

This Sunday is the 6^th Sunday of Easter it doesn’t seem that  long since we celebrated Easter Sunday as we  head towards Ascension and Pentecost which take place over the next 2 weekends. The second reading is one that I always love to hear as It speaks of us having reverence for God and that we should always be ready to give an explanation to anyone who asks about the reason for our hope, the reading goes on to tell us to give our answers with gentleness and reverence. What is the answer for our hope simply put the reason for our hope is Jesus Christ the Son of God the Father. If we live for Christ, we will be criticized and many people over the centuries lost their lives for their defence of the faith. Would we be able to stand up and tell those around us the reason that we have for the hope that is within us today? Would we be prepared to stand up for the faith that so many have turned their backs on and point towards Jesus Christ the reason for the hope that we have both these questions are hard  to answer for people of faith in the world we find ourselves these days.   

In The Gospel for this Sunday Jesus promises to ask the Father to send us the “Paraclete,” or “Advocate.” The word “Paraclete” literally means “one called alongside” indicating one who accompanies another.  This can refer to a Lawyer who intercedes for another in a lawsuit, a helper who encourages, or a companion who gives comfort. The Paraclete, or advocate, is the Spirit of Truth, the Holy Spirit. Jesus is preparing his disciples for his Ascension, his going back to the Father. When he finally leaves He doesn’t leave his followers a detailed plan.  Instead, he promised them and he also promises us the Holy Spirit, who will never leave our side. This is why he says “I will not leave you orphans.”  The Spirit is with us to open our hearts and minds to the fullness of the truth of Jesus’ words, and the commandment he gives to “love one another as I have loved you.”  If we share our faith with courtesy and respect for others who might not hold our belief  or those who no longer practise their faith. then we will find that they will show respect for the things we hold dear as we stand up for the faith we profess wherever we are.

The one thing that will remain as it has up to now is the reason for our hope who is Jesus Christ who is with us in all our troubles in life whatever they are. As we look around us we may come across people who may be considered to be outsiders who are the least likely to join us in prayer.  But here they are and they are part of us! We cannot ignore them, especially if they, like the Samaritans, show signs of the Spirit’s life that is the life of faith in what they are saying or doing. We welcome and respect one another whether we are in Church every week or not; No one is  less in God’s eyes, nor should anyone  be in ours. Peter calls us today to “good conduct in Christ.” What better conduct can we do as a Christians, than be a community of Christ’s disciples as we move forward together in faith. God the Father is merciful and full of compassion. He is our source of life and of the longings of our hearts and our hearts are restless till they rest in him It is through the Holy Spirit that we are drawn into the life of Faith so we can rest in him. May we always be open to the transforming power of the Holy Spirit in our lives, and may we be bold witnesses to Christ in the world where we are.

5th Sunday of Easter

In this Sundays  first reading, we see how human the first Christians were. Some were Palestinian Jews, while others were gentiles of Greek origin. Tensions were bound to arise since each group had different ways of thinking and acting. Once out in the open, the complaints become an opportunity for development, and the decision is made to give the non-Jewish community greater authority and more participation in the running of the Church at its beginning. The second reading, from the First Letter of St. Peter, uses the image of “stone” or “rock.” Peter, referring to Isaiah’s prophecy, tells us that God the Father long ago had established His Son, Jesus, as the “cornerstone, chosen and precious.” Peter, with warm and welcoming tone, urges us to come with hope and trust to the living stone of salvation, and there to become ourselves a holy temple. Then comes a warning. Just as many have rejected this rock of salvation, so too, if we attempt to bypass Christ, then we will ourselves stumble and fall.

Peter quotes Isaiah as his authority for referring to Christ as a stumbling block to those who reject Him. The Gospel is taken from the wonderful farewell address of Jesus to His apostles at the Last Supper. He is helping them get ready for his suffering and death. For the apostles this was a huge reversal from the adulation of the entrance into Jerusalem on Palm Sunday to the despair of the Cross on Good Friday. Remember when he asked them whether they would leave him, along with the rest of the crowd? Now it is he who is leaving. They are stunned. Peter’s reply at that time would be appropriate even now. “Where will we go? You have the words of eternal life” (Jn 6:67-8) Jesus tells them as he tells us now. “Do not let your hearts be troubled. You have faith in God, have faith also in me.” The straightforward meaning of this directive is, you know how to trust, you do it with God. Use that same trust with me.  This trust in Jesus and in God  is also what we are called to these days. Jesus speaks to us not at us.   His word is proclaimed to us through the readings from scripture as well as in lived example of others in the community where we live.  

We come to Church week in week out to hear the Word and receive Jesus in Holy Communion.  We come to share the joys and sufferings of all the community in faith gathered together as gods people.   We don’t stay in Church all the time as the hard pew might well become the soft bed.  We have duties and obligations to family, work and the communities where we live.  We are asked to  take the Word of God into that life with all its short comings when we are told to go in peace.   When we’re confused about decisions we should make, Jesus Himself will show us the Way. When we don’t know what is true and what is false, what is right and what is wrong, the Holy Spirit through the Church and its members will enlighten us.  When we are drawn into false pleasures that promise us life, Jesus will bring us back to real living and the joy of that life through the power of His love. As we walk along the roads of life these days when so much is wrong in the world at large let us take up the call of Jesus the cornerstone  of the church to trust in him and he will not let us down.