Today is the 6th Sunday of Easter. Our journey of discovery of the risen Christ with the disciples is drawing to its dramatic conclusion. Next Sunday we celebrate the Solemnity of the Ascension of the Lord and then on June 5 we celebrate the great Feast of Pentecost. In these closing days of the Easter Season our readings, especially the Gospel, change from direct encounters with the Risen Christ to Jesus’ Last Supper Discourses from St John’s Gospel where Jesus assured the disciples that no matter what happened, they would not be left to fend for themselves.
In the Gospel reading we hear today Jesus told his disciples and he tells us that, “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” (John14: 23). For St John love is the foundation of everything. Emeritus Pope Benedict XVI, wrote his fist Encyclical Letter, Deus Caritas Est (God is Love) to highlight God’s love for us which he called “the heart of the Christian faith.” By keeping the word of God deep in our hearts our faith can grow and mature. Pope Benedict said, “The love-story between God and man consists in the very fact that this communion of will increases in a communion of thought and sentiment, and thus our will and God's will increasingly coincide: God's will is no longer for me an alien will, something imposed on me from without by the commandments, but it is now my own will, based on the realization that God is in fact more deeply present to me than I am to myself. Then self- abandonment to God increases and God becomes our joy “(Deus Caritas Est, 17).
The Easter Season is about mystagogy, to lead through the mysteries. Mystagogy is part of the Christian Initiation process when newly baptised Catholics are introduced to and participate in the sacramental life of the Church. But mystagogy is so much more than an introduction to the sacramental mysteries of the Church. It is a lifelong process. It is our perpetual discovery of God’s abiding love for us.
O God, you have created us,
you have called us,
and you have chosen us to be your people.
You have promised to make Your dwelling place
within the hearts of all who hear Your words
and put them into practice.
Send Your Spirit to bring to our minds all that Your Son,
Christ Jesus our Lord,
did and taught, and empower us to bear witness to Him
in our own words and deeds.
We ask this through your Son, Jesus Christ
who lives and reigns with you forever and ever.
you have called us,
and you have chosen us to be your people.
You have promised to make Your dwelling place
within the hearts of all who hear Your words
and put them into practice.
Send Your Spirit to bring to our minds all that Your Son,
Christ Jesus our Lord,
did and taught, and empower us to bear witness to Him
in our own words and deeds.
We ask this through your Son, Jesus Christ
who lives and reigns with you forever and ever.
Amen
Prayer by Rev. Richard J. Fairchild
