Fifth Sunday of Easter

Acts 9:26-31, 1 Jn 3:18-24 3:18-24, Jn 15:1-8

 

Dear Sisters and Brothers,

 

We are invited today to consider our belonging to the Lord and to the Church. The first reading immediately presents us with a picture of Saul. Newly converted to Jesus, provoking fear in the Christian community at Jerusalem. The other people would not believe that he now really followed Christ.

We humans only come to trust people slowly, even as Christians. Our Christianity does not take away our common sense: when someone has been working to destroy us, it is not easy to believe that a conversion is possible.

This is important to understand authority and leadership and service in the Church. When we see that someone really leads us to the Lord Jesus and to God, we slowly begin to give our trust to such a person. Perhaps in the past, Catholics would more immediately trust any priest or nun or religious sister or brother, but today that is much less the case. We should not be surprised at this nor even think that it is perhaps a loss of authority in the Church. Instead, it reflects a return to a deeper understanding of Christ’s role in our life.

We are all part of the vine when we remain in Christ and seek to do His will. We form Christian communities by this faith in Christ. Those of us who are Catholic have come to accept the Catholic Church and its teachings as presenting the truth of Christ and as carrying out His mission in the world in a way that other Christian Churches do not. For us, part of remaining connected to the vine as its branches means faithful acceptance of the Church and its teachings and in many ways, acceptance of the role of the Bishop of Rome, the Holy Father.

Perhaps some 50 years ago or more, people who held positions of authority and service, in the Church or in civil life, were given respect and trust simply because they held those positions. That seems no longer true in our present age. Everyone feels free to criticize anyone. Catholics freely disagree with the Holy Father, with bishops and with anyone else in authority in the Church. Many, of course, see this as the destruction of the Church. The same thing happens now in civil society. No one is above criticism and no one is given trust and confidence simply because they have a particular job or title.

Our readings today invite to continue to understand the world and our participation in it through the eyes of Jesus Himself. Once again, we are brought to the same place: speak the words of Christ, live as Christ and in that living and speaking is born the Christian community. Because I am a truly convinced Catholic, I also believe that a deep search for the truth will bring Christians to the Catholic faith.

The most important aspect is to allow the Word of God to penetrate us deeper and deeper. We must strive to let that Word work in every aspect of our lives. We must strive to live with deep inner peace and tranquility so that we can listen to that Word. We must spend time each day with the Word of God. We must be totally committed to following the Word of God wherever it takes us. “Let us love not in word or speech but indeed and truth,” and we can become fully alive. It is in our actions that we know who we really are. At the same time, we all admit that we are still “in process.” We are Christians,             Catholics, becoming more completely in deed and in truth followers of Christ.

Today we can ask our Risen Lord to open our hearts and minds more completely to his Word, the Word of God. We can ask the Holy Spirit to illumine our hearts and our minds so that we can see the truth and have the courage to live it in our deeds (Brother Philip).

Peace and all good!

Fr. Valery Burusu

Parochial Administrator