May 5, 2013 6th Sunday of Easter

Bulletin May 5, 2013 6^th Sunday of Easter

Acts 15:1-2, 22-29; Revelation 21: 10-14, 22-23; John 14:23-29
Today’s readings put my life and the life of every Christian into perspective. What does it mean to be a Christian? Is this to be viewed as a ‘high class club’ that one belongs to and the prize for membership is heaven? Can I just belong and that’s it; the privileges are great and the responsibilities easy? It is so easy to put myself in that frame work. But that is pure rubbish; so I look into the readings to gain wisdom and direction.
It is obvious in the first reading from Luke’s Acts of the Apostles that the question of conditions for membership in the early church was a much disputed and very serious topic. The first followers of Jesus were all Jewish and they continued to follow their customs and traditions. When Gentiles started to believe in Jesus, there was conflict; the ‘old timers’ felt that the new converts should be brought up under the same religious rules, regulations and rituals. Paul brought this concern to the leadership saying that salvation came only from Jesus and not even indirectly through ‘the law’. Jesus’ Resurrection changed everything. As one author said, “…it broke the rules, and for a people who followed Moses the teacher, keeping the rules was of utmost importance. Also the practice of circumcision was not negotiable for males; since these marks were ‘their identity.” The Pharisees were the teachers and enforcers of these rules and Paul was a devout Pharisee. At Jerusalem, the first Council of the church decided, “It is the decision of the Holy Spirit and ours too, not to demand any burden beyond that which is strictly necessary.” (The ‘ours too’ refers to Peter, Barnabas, Paul and James the leader of the church of Jerusalem) The Spirit is at work and continues to lead the Church and to lead me and each person closer to the Lord. The questions are ‘Do I allow the Spirit to work within me? Do I feel that since I am a relatively good person, what I do must be ok?
This really brings up an important question: How is the Holy Spirit given to us? Jesus ‘gave’ the Spirit to us … ‘I will never leave you alone, I will send the Spirit to be with you always.’ The Holy Spirit is a gift to each person, and it is also a gift to us as we interact in our life community. The Spirit is always at work. Fifty years ago the Spirit guided the deliberations of the Second Vatican Council. So what does the Spirit do?
John devotes many pages on Jesus’ Last Supper Discourse much of which describes the Spirit in each person’s life. Today He tells us, “The Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you everything and remind you of all that I told you.” Now the word John uses to describe the Holy Spirit is paracletos, which doesn’t translate very well into English. The Holy Spirit, the Paraclete is a nice phrase but what does this word mean? Paraclete means ‘helper’, ‘advocate’, ‘consoler’, or’ counselor’. These different translations all point to the same thing: that the Holy Spirit will help me and each person to live the life of Jesus today. And how is this accomplished? Jesus says it all, “Whoever loves Me will keep my word and My Father will love him, and We will come to him and make Our dwelling with him. Whoever does not love Me does not keep my My words, yet the word you hear is not Mine but that of the Father who sent Me.” So am I a person of love?
One of my mentors while I was on Sabbatical at Notre Dame in the 1990’s was Msgr. Eugene Lauer, he used this fitting example: “A Love That Flows – That exquisite sage of Chinese culture Confucius described the Superior Person as the one for whom duty was no burden. He or she is the person who can carry out moral righteousness with little effort. To be caring, to be good, is exactly what that person wished to do and be at every moment. Just laws are not perceived as binding or restricting; rather, they provide one with the opportunity to carry out what is already one’s inner desire. The facility of virtue, therefore, is identifying characteristic of the Superior Person.” This is what Jesus is expressing, “Anyone who loves Me will be true to My word.” So If I love Jesus, this is what I will do spontaneously. I don’t need anyone to force me to keep commandments, I want to do them. I want to live in love. I want to live and be Jesus. I want to but do I want to? Jesus said in the Gospel that He gives me His special gift, “Peace I leave with you, My peace I give to you.”
When Jesus broke through the closed doors of fear and doubt He spoke these words to the apostles who desperately needed them. And I need them so very often too. He said, “Peace be with you.” And these words turned their despair into hope and their sadness into joy. This is the peace that the world cannot give; even though I try to find it in the many ‘amusements’ and ‘games’ society offers as objects of pleasure which give maybe at most a passing peace. It is the peace that Jesus gives that no one can take away from me. It is in the knowing that I am never alone, that no matter what, I am loved and treasured as well as being needed. It is that peace which can exist in the midst of my troubled world, and even in the midst of my unresolved problems, because God is with me and the Spirit is helping me. Peace is God’s gift to me and each person and most importantly it can be my gift to each person who comes into my life. This is what it means to be Jesus and work for heaven. So I reflect on:

• So how does the Holy Spirit work? The Spirit works in and through me and others. Do I allow this to happen?
  
• What does it mean to love one another as Jesus loves me? Can I love with that much perfection?
  
• How do my belief and my trust in Jesus impact my daily life?
  
• Jesus recognizes that I will have times of fear and doubt. It seems that when I face these all by myself, they overpower me. Why don’t I realize the Spirit is always present? Why do I do the ‘man’ thing and tackle it by myself?
  
• As Paul tells the Romans in the 8^th chapter, “Who will separate us from the love of Christ? Will hardship, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? And then Paul gives his wonderful conclusion in the 39^th verse. “For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor rulers, not things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.”
  

So I trust and love!