Deacon Tom Anthony

Seventh Sunday of Easter
Lectionary: 60

Reading 1 Acts 1:15-17, 20a, 20c-26

Peter stood up in the midst of the brothers
—there was a group of about one hundred and twenty persons
in the one place —.
He said, “My brothers,
the Scripture had to be fulfilled
which the Holy Spirit spoke beforehand
through the mouth of David, concerning Judas,
who was the guide for those who arrested Jesus.
He was numbered among us
and was allotted a share in this ministry.

“For it is written in the Book of Psalms:
May another take his office.

“Therefore, it is necessary that one of the men
who accompanied us the whole time
the Lord Jesus came and went among us,
beginning from the baptism of John
until the day on which he was taken up from us,
become with us a witness to his resurrection.”
So they proposed two, Judas called Barsabbas,
who was also known as Justus, and Matthias.
Then they prayed,
“You, Lord, who know the hearts of all,
show which one of these two you have chosen
to take the place in this apostolic ministry
from which Judas turned away to go to his own place.”
Then they gave lots to them, and the lot fell upon Matthias,
and he was counted with the eleven apostles.

Responsorial Psalm Ps 103:1-2, 11-12, 19-20

R. (19a) The Lord has set his throne in heaven.
or:
R. Alleluia.
Bless the LORD, O my soul;
and all my being, bless his holy name.
Bless the LORD, O my soul,
and forget not all his benefits.
R. The Lord has set his throne in heaven.
or:
R. Alleluia.
For as the heavens are high above the earth,
so surpassing is his kindness toward those who fear him.
As far as the east is from the west,
so far has he put our transgressions from us.
R. The Lord has set his throne in heaven.
or:
R. Alleluia.
The LORD has established his throne in heaven,
and his kingdom rules over all.
Bless the LORD, all you his angels,
you mighty in strength, who do his bidding.
R. The Lord has set his throne in heaven.
or:
R. Alleluia.

Reading 2 1 Jn 4:11-16

Beloved, if God so loved us,
we also must love one another.
No one has ever seen God.
Yet, if we love one another, God remains in us,
and his love is brought to perfection in us.

This is how we know that we remain in him and he in us,
that he has given us of his Spirit.
Moreover, we have seen and testify
that the Father sent his Son as savior of the world.
Whoever acknowledges that Jesus is the Son of God,
God remains in him and he in God.
We have come to know and to believe in the love God has for us.

God is love, and whoever remains in love
remains in God and God in him.

Alleluia Cf. Jn 14:18

R. Alleluia, alleluia.
I will not leave you orphans, says the Lord.
I will come back to you, and your hearts will rejoice.
R. Alleluia, alleluia.

Gospel Jn 17:11b-19

Lifting up his eyes to heaven, Jesus prayed saying:
“Holy Father, keep them in your name that you have given me,
so that they may be one just as we are one.
When I was with them I protected them in your name that you gave me,
and I guarded them, and none of them was lost
except the son of destruction,
in order that the Scripture might be fulfilled.
But now I am coming to you.
I speak this in the world
so that they may share my joy completely.
I gave them your word, and the world hated them,
because they do not belong to the world
any more than I belong to the world.
I do not ask that you take them out of the world
but that you keep them from the evil one.
They do not belong to the world
any more than I belong to the world.
Consecrate them in the truth. Your word is truth.
As you sent me into the world,
so I sent them into the world.
And I consecrate myself for them,
so that they also may be consecrated in truth.”

My Brothers and Sisters,

 First and foremost we must remember that God loves us. Whatever we do or say, we can count on that love which comes from Him. There is no precondition to His love. It is us, through our own actions, that dictate how receptive or unreceptive we are to it. In the Second Reading today, John tells us in his letter that as long as we remain in God’s love He will remain in us. This is not by God’s decision but by ours. He has always loved us and will continue to do so. What we do with that love will control our overall experience of its presence.

When we exercise our free will and make decisions without taking into account what God wants for us is when we reject His love. We are turning away from Him and embracing the allures of the flesh. This is when it becomes difficult if not impossible to feel the presence of God’s love. Our conscious will warn us when this happens in the hopes that we might divert from a path which will eventually lead us to misery but oftentimes this will be ignored in favor of our own selfishness. Instead, we become overwhelmed with the desires of the flesh which can manifest itself in the form of hunger pains which need to be subdued. We are truly engaged in a war between our spirit and our flesh. Without God’s help we will always lose.

God created the universe. God created us. We are encouraged never to forget this and live our lives by this principle. Each day is an opportunity to get closer to Him by seeking a relationship with Him instead of being swept away by the allures of the moment or the challenges of daily living. The day will come and go. The sun will rise and set. The material things that we experience have an expiration date. God does not and so doesn’t His love. Why should we focus on things that will eventually fade away instead of that which eternal? With God’s love whatever we experience can be experienced the right way and an indescribable joy can result. Left to our own devices it is easy to assume that we already know how things will turn out. Even if we are happy for a moment without God, the feeling is temporary and it is guaranteed that we will spend a large portion of our lives chasing for more until the time comes when we face our mortality and find ourselves empty and afraid.

God tells us that His thoughts are not our thoughts and His ways are not our ways. If we are to partake in a relationship with Him we must clear away the clutter that prevents us from experiencing Him fully. So much of our time is spent building up barriers and resisting Him, it even occurs without us knowing. We are easily distracted from this God Experience by our own selfish needs and wants; a constant quest for objects of desire. It is almost baffling how, in the end, the thing that could satisfy us the most was the thing that was always directly in front of us: God’s love.

Jesus Christ shows us the way to the Father. He is a powerful companion and lover who is always at our side. He will always protect us, guide us, and will experience everything we experience. In much the same way, we are invited to experience all that He has and will experience. Enforced by the Holy Spirit, we are invited into the experience of  The Holy Trinity, never to be separated except by our own choice. This invitation is both a personal and collective experience. We all come forward together in celebration and collective support while keeping an individual intimacy that becomes our most important relationship. In the moment and for the moment we are one with the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.

Deacon Tom