Be Built into a Spiritual House

Fifth Sunday of Easter2014 A

By Rev. Joe McCloskey, SJ

Brothers, select from among you seven reputable men, filled with the Spirit and wisdom, whom we shall appoint to this task, whereas we shall devote ourselves to prayer and to the ministry of the word.”  Acts 6:3-4

Come to him, a living stone, rejected by human beings but chosen and precious in the sight of God, and, like living stones, let yourselves be built into a spiritual house to be a holy priesthood to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. 1 Peter 2:4-5

Amen, amen, I say to you, whoever believes in me will do the works that I do, and will do greater ones than these, because I am going to the Father.”  John 14:12

Piety

Piety is our road to the Father through Christ.  He is our way, truth and life.  Christ tells us that when we know him, we know the Father.  Christ says it neatly.  As the Father has loved me, I have loved you.  He invites us to love one another just as we have been loved by him.  We are not clones of Christ.  In our uniqueness in the plan of the Father we have his life.  We are part of the plan of God the Father for our world.  We are in the words of Peter 2:4-9 a chosen race, a real priesthood, a people set apart to offer real sacrifices in the name of Christ that are accepted through our belonging to Christ.

Study

There are many rooms in our Father’s house.  There is one for each of us.  The design on our room flows out of the life we live, how we trust in Christ and how we put into practice what Christ has taught us by his life.  There are even greater things waiting for us if we live the fullness of the Christ we have met through the scriptures and the prayer of our lives.  He has sent into our lives wonderful friends so that we can learn from each other.  Christ in his humanness is safe in heaven He lives on in his humanness in the Sacramental life of the Church.  It is not just that we are the Mystical Body of Christ.  We live his life in the Sacramental life of the Church.  We are his life by the goodness of our lives and our love for one another.  Our study of Christ gives us the plan that we need to put into practice by our actions.

Action

We are called to do the works of Christ and even greater works because we can reach the world we are part of by our actions.  The computer age gives us greater outreach than Christ ever had in his human age where word of mouth was how he communicated.  Now we can make use of his spirit and touch the hearts of people we will never see and who will never see us.  Even as Christ made the Father present by his good works we are to make Christ present by our good works.  We are called to be real Christs for one another.  We are challenged to make Christ real in all that we are by being all of ourselves in his name.