You Will Realize

April 27, 2008

Sixth Sunday of Easter

By Rev. Joe McCloskey, S.J.

Then they laid hands on them and they received the Holy Spirit. Acts 8:17

For it is better to suffer for doing good, if that be the will of God, than for doing evil. 1 Peter 3:16

“On that day you will realize that I am in my Father and you are in me and I in you. Whoever has my commandments and observes them is the one who loves me. And whoever loves me will be loved by my Father, and I will love him and reveal myself to him.” John 14:19-21

Piety

Let us pray: Father, help us to understand the truth of Christianity – that it is better to suffer for good like your Son. Jesus, help us welcome you into our lives and share you with our community of believers and non-believers. Amen.

Study

http://www.usccb.org/nab/readings/042708.shtml

“What’s More Better” summarizes the readings of this Sunday.

Philip proclaimed Christ and the unclean spirits came out of possessed people. Paralyzed and crippled people were cured. The “What’s More Better” came after the people accepted the word of God. Peter and John prayed over them that they might receive the Holy Spirit. The “More” is felt in the joy of the heart crying out to God. It is the sharing about Christ that gives life to the community. The paradox of Christianity is found in the sharing of Christ. We can not hold unto Christ if we want to keep him. We have to give him away by our lives and our words if we want to hold unto him. That is the paradox of Christianity. The more we share Christ, the more we grow as his presence in our world.

We share Christ by living out in our lives his spirituality. Christ did not force himself on anyone. Peter in his letter urges us to share about Christ with gentleness and reverence. Christ is the “more” of our goodness. He is the reason for our hope in the resurrection. He teaches us that it is better to suffer for doing good, if that be the will of God, than for doing evil. Because Christ also suffered, our suffering for his sake makes us like him. Thus Christ leads us to God. The more of Christ’s dying in our life, the more Christ bring us to life in his Spirit.

Action

Christ comes to us by the Spirit and just as Christ was in the Father, we are in Christ and he is in us. We know we are one with Christ by our love. Christ says the more to us with the simple statement of how we can know we love. The more of life for the true Christian is the keeping of Christ’s commandments. The promise of Christ is powerful. …whoever loves me will be loved by my Father, and I will love him and reveal myself to him. Our goodness grows and becomes more in our closeness to Christ and to each other. The Mystical Body of Christ is the reality of Christ of each of us being shared in our celebration of Eucharist together. The church is the people of God. The togetherness of the people of God is the Mystical Body of Christ. The “What’s More Better” reveals itself in how Eucharist is Christ taking ourselves into his body. All the ways we show reverence to his presence on the altar are the “What’s More Better” of our love for Christ in each other.