May 29, 2011
Sixth Sunday of Easter A
By Rev. Joe McCloskey, S.J.
With one accord, the crowds paid attention to what was said by Philip when they heard it and saw the signs he was doing. For unclean spirits, crying out in a loud voice, came out of many possessed people, and many paralyzed and crippled people were cured. There was great joy in that city. Acts 8: 6-8
[S]anctify Christ as Lord in your hearts. Always be ready to give an explanation to anyone who asks you for a reason for your hope, but do it with gentleness and reverence, keeping your conscience clear, so that, when you are maligned, those who defame your good conduct in Christ may themselves be put to shame. For it is better to suffer for doing good, if that be the will of God, than for doing evil. 1 Peter 3:15-17
I will not leave you orphans; I will come to you. In a little while the world will no longer see me, but you will see me, because I live and you will live. John 14:18-19
Piety
Piety proclaims Christ to the world. It is not wishy-washy. It is the power of the word that claims the hearts of the listener. The Word of God lives in our goodness. The sweetness of the word is in the good taste it leaves in the person who chews on what was said. Beauty is in the eyes of the beholders. The word is spoken louder and clearer through the prayer put into what is said. Prayer converts our actions into the work of the Lord. The spirit is given by the prayer we put into our actions done in the name of Christ. We need to expect the earth to cry out to God with joy when we invoke the Spirit of the Lord on what we do. Piety expresses the worship and the praise we sing to the name of the Lord.
Study
Study allows us to sanctify our encounter with others with the turning over of our hearts to the Lord. We received the Lord in Baptism. The needs of the Church we try to meet by our prayer and actions convert what we do into the work of the Spirit. By opening our hearts to what is called for by the need of the Lord tremendous deeds are possible. The ordinary becomes the extraordinary of our lives. We take the Lord who is a prisoner of our heats in our inactions and open the door of our heats to the needs of those around us, thus allowing the Lord to come out in what we say and do in his name. Our hope is in the name of the Lord. Our study sanctifies Christ as Lord of our hearts. What we realize about Christ in our study makes it possible to share the love of Christ.
Action
Our love challenges us to keep the commandments. We love even as Christ loved in giving our lives for the sake of each other. There is never too much asked of us when we are sharing Christ. Christ is the impossible made possible by the love of our hearts for each other. Even as Christ suffered for the sake of the unrighteous, we lead other to God by putting to death in the flesh, what was brought to life in the Spirit. What we suffer in doing good makes us one with the righteous for the sake of the unrighteous. Christ does not leave us orphans. He promises to come to us and tells us that on the day we acknowledge that Christ in the Father and we are in Christ, he affirms that we will be loved by the Father. Christ promises to love us and to reveal himself to us. The Spirit of Truth will be ours because the Advocate will be with us always.
