Mother Church invites us to celebrate Sunday, May 14, 2023 as the sixth Sunday of Easter – Year A In the entrance antiphon we pray: Speak out with a voice of joy; let it be heard to the ends of the earth: The Lord has set his people free, alleluia!
From now until Pentecost, our attention is focused on that other aspect of the Easter mystery: our Lord’s gift of his Spirit to his disciples. In the first reading we see the apostles laying hands on the Samaritans. In our own day the bishops, successors of the apostles, continue this in the sacrament of confirmation so that Christians, young and old, may receive God’s Spirit more fully. In the second reading, Saint Peter continues to encourage the Jewish converts in Gentile territory not to give up hope despite the persecution of which they are victims. In John’s Gospel, Jesus continues from last Sunday to explain to his disciples what his relationship is with his Father and how he will send them an advocate, the Holy Spirit, to fortify their faith after his ascension into his Father’s glory.
First Reading: Acts 8: 5-8. 14-17.
Thus, Philip went down to [the] city of Samaria and proclaimed the Messiah to them.to them. 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. Now when the apostles in Jerusalem heard that Samaria had accepted the word of God, they sent them Peter and John, who went down and prayed for them, that they might receive the holy Spirit, for it had not yet fallen upon any of them; they had only been baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus. Then they laid hands on them and they received the Holy Spirit.
Comment
The martyrdom of Stephen marked a turning point in the history of the early Church, which began to expand beyond Jerusalem, as the first followers of Christ were driven away from the city, being forced to flee from men like Saul, sent to arrest them.
The work of Philip “the deacon” is recounted in today’s reading. Saint Luke is illustrating how Christ’s command to his disciples to preach the Gospel throughout Samaria is fulfilled. “You shall be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria” (Acts 1:8). The Gospel is proclaimed to the Samaritans, who are also expecting the Messiah.
The Samaritans, whom the Jews despise, become the first to benefit from the first fruits of the Gospel in its determination to spread all over the world. There is joy among the disciples when they learn that the Samaritans have now accepted the redemptive message of the Gospel. Peter and John proceed to confirm the disciples recently baptised by Philip. The Apostles constitute the spiritual center of the Church and take an active interest in ensuring that the new communities are conscious of the links that unite them to the community in Jerusalem.
This passage bears witness to the existence of Baptism and the gift of the Holy Spirit (or Confirmation). Baptism is the first sacrament a person receives, which is why it is called the “door of the Church.” There is a close connection between Baptism and Confirmation, so much so that in the early centuries of Christianity, Confirmation was administered immediately after Baptism.
Saint John Paul II explains that “the nature of the sacrament of Confirmation grows out of this endowment of strength which the Holy Spirit communicates to each baptised person, to make him or her – as the well-known language of the Catechism puts it – a perfect Christian and soldier of Christ, ready to witness boldly to his resurrection and its redemptive power.”
Let us pray with Caryll Houselander for the gift of the Holy Spirit: “Come down upon us, Spirit of God, spirit of wisdom and peace and joy; come as a great wind blowing; sweep our minds with a storm of light. Be in us as bright fire burning; forge our wills to shining swords in the flame. Purify our hearts in the crucible of the fire of love. Change our tepid nature into the warm humanity of Christ, as he changed water into wine. Be in us a stream of life, as wine in the living vine. We make our prayer through Christ our Lord. Amen. Alleluia.”
Second Reading: 1 Peter 3:15-18
Beloved, do not be afraid or terrified with fear of them, but sanctify Christ as Lord in your hearts. Always be ready to give an explanation to anyone who asks you for a reason for you 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. For Christ also suffered for sins once, the righteous for the sake of the unrighteous, that he might lead you to God. Put to death in the flesh, he was brought to life in the spirit.
Comment
The First Letter of Peter, as we have seen over the past Sundays, was addressed to the Christians of the churches in Asia. Two major themes run through the letter: first, the high dignity and boundless joy of being a Christian, and, second, the necessity and tremendous honour of sharing in the sufferings of Christ. The letter is therefore about Christian discipleship with its joys and its sorrows; its teaching is that sorrow comes but is always absorbed in joy. Even though death and life run through this letter, it is always life that wins over death.
Peter’s letter serves as encouragement to those Christians suffering. This comes out clearly in the third part of this Epistle. Peter returns to the example of Christ who used the very injustice of his treatment as the means of our salvation. Peter uses this as a motive for accepting persecution patiently. Even in the midst of difficulties, the entire Christian’s life should be a hymn of praise to God; by acting this way, Christians are living out their holy, royal priesthood.
Jesus Christ, who suffers for the sins of mankind – “the righteous for the unrighteous” – and then is glorified, gives meaning to the sufferings of Christians. The fruits of the Cross are applied to man, in a special way, by means of the sacraments, particularly by taking part in the Mass, the bloodless renewal of the sacrifice of Calvary.
Let us pray for those persecuted because of their belief in the One Lord, Jesus Christ. May the Holy Spirit strengthen their faith and help them to weather whatever storm of adversity may be rocking their lives because of their faith. May the Spirit of God also shine in the hearts of their persecutors, as it did in Saul’s, so that they too may come to know that we are all children of the same God, created in his image. Amen. Alleluia.
Gospel acclamation: “Alleluia, alleluia. Whoever loves me will keep my word, says the Lord, and my Father will love him and we will come to him. Alleluia, alleluia.”
Gospel: Saint John 14: 15-21.
At that time Jesus said to his disciples: “If you love me, you will keep my commands. And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another advocate to help you and be with you forever, the Spirit of truth. The world cannot accept him, because it neither sees him nor knows him. But you know him, for he lives with you and will be in you. I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you. Before long, the world will not see me anymore, but you will see me. Because I live, you also will live. On that day you will realize that I am in my Father, and you are in me, and I am in you. Whoever has my commands and keeps them is the one who loves me. The one who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I too will love them and show myself to them.”
Comment
“I shall ask the Father and he will give you another Advocate,” our Lord tells his disciples shortly before going up to his Father. Christ does not have long to live on earth. His Ascension into heaven will be next Thursday. As he plans to ascend to his Father’s glory, his thoughts also turn to his disciples. He has much to tell them but they do not understand Him. So he adopts another strategy to teach his disciples after he has gone. He promises to send them the Holy Spirit, saying – “When he comes, the Spirit of Truth, he will guide you to all truth.”
Today’s readings are intended to prepare us for the coming of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost, which we will celebrate in two weeks’ time. So, let us begin our preparation by taking a closer look at the Holy Spirit. Who is he?
You know the gifts of the Holy Spirit: respect, fortitude, piety, good counsel, knowledge, understanding, and wisdom. You know the fruits of the Holy Spirit, which are consolation, happiness, charity, joy, peace, patience, goodness, faith, modesty, and chastity. Today, our preparation starts with acknowledging the Holy Spirit as the guide of the truth. He will guide us in the truth. The question is, what truth?
The truth that the Holy Spirit will teach us is the truth about God and about ourselves. The truth will tell us what we are to be: people who obey commandments of God, people who love Christ, and love God the Father in what they do and in what they say. This truth is life; the new life offered to us by God in Christ and in a loving Christian Community called the Church.
What the Holy Spirit will teach us is not only a way of knowing the truth but beyond that the Holy Spirit will guide us to a new way of being true and doing what is true. This truth then should change our lives. It is a truth that transforms our lives in Christ.
The living truth through which the Holy Spirit guides us is obedience of the commandments. All the commandments are summed up in one love, and love generates community. Doing the truth, complying with the will of God, also means having the right attitudes and dispositions towards our fellow human beings.
The Holy Spirit will come to guide us in the way of building loving and reconciled relationships. The Spirit will teach us how to care for others and how to care about others.
The Holy Spirit is coming to make us a new people of God, who love the Church and are united in the Church. What is there in me that enables me to love the Church? How do I concretely love the Church?
The Holy Spirit is coming to teach me to be sincere, honest, faithful, reliable, and trustworthy. The truth the Holy Spirit will teach us is found neither in formulas, nor in words, nor in slogans, nor in labels, nor in logic. The truth of the Spirit is found in a way of changing our lives; it is concrete in that it finds expression in communal love; it is fearless of bad consequences; it faces all risks.
Let us pray. Come Holy Spirit, live in us, with God the Father and the Son; and grant us your abundant grace to sanctify and make us one. We make this supplication through Christ our Lord. Amen. Alleluia.
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