Seventh Sunday of Easter
Lectionary: 61
Reading I
Stephen, filled with the Holy Spirit,
looked up intently to heaven and saw the glory of God
and Jesus standing at the right hand of God,
and Stephen said, “Behold, I see the heavens opened
and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God.”
But they cried out in a loud voice,
covered their ears, and rushed upon him together.
They threw him out of the city, and began to stone him.
The witnesses laid down their cloaks
at the feet of a young man named Saul.
As they were stoning Stephen, he called out,
“Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.”
Then he fell to his knees and cried out in a loud voice,
“Lord, do not hold this sin against them;”
and when he said this, he fell asleep.
Responsorial Psalm
R (1a and 9a) The Lord is king, the most high over
all the earth.
or:
R Alleluia.
The LORD is king; let the earth rejoice;
let the many
islands be glad.
Justice and judgment are the foundation of his throne.
R The Lord is king, the most high over all the earth.
or:
R Alleluia.
The heavens proclaim his justice,
and all
peoples see his glory.
All gods are prostrate before him.
R The Lord is king, the most high over all the earth.
or:
R Alleluia.
You, O LORD, are the Most High over all the earth,
exalted far
above all gods.
R The Lord is king, the most high over all the earth.
or:
R Alleluia.
Reading II
I, John, heard a voice saying to me:
“Behold, I am coming soon.
I bring with me the recompense I will give to each
according to his deeds.
I am the Alpha and the Omega, the first and the last,
the beginning and the end.”
Blessed are they who wash their robes
so as to have the right to the tree of life
and enter the city through its gates.
“I, Jesus, sent my angel to give you this testimony for the churches.
I am the root and offspring of David,
the bright morning star.”
The Spirit and the bride say, “Come.”
Let the hearer say, “Come.”
Let the one who thirsts come forward,
and the one who wants it receive the gift of life-giving water.
The one who gives this testimony says, “Yes, I am coming soon.”
Amen! Come, Lord Jesus!
Alleluia
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
Lifting up his eyes to heaven, Jesus prayed saying:
“Holy Father, I pray not only for them,
but also for those who will believe in me through their word,
so that they may all be one,
as you, Father, are in me and I in you,
that they also may be in us,
that the world may believe that you sent me.
And I have given them the glory you gave me,
so that they may be one, as we are one,
I in them and you in me,
that they may be brought to perfection as one,
that the world may know that you sent me,
and that you loved them even as you loved me.
Father, they are your gift to me.
I wish that where I am they also may be with me,
that they may see my glory that you gave me,
because you loved me before the foundation of the world.
Righteous Father, the world also does not know you,
but I know you, and they know that you sent me.
I made known to them your name and I will make it known,
that the love with which you loved me
may be in them and I in them.”
MY BROTHERS AND SISTERS,
The prayer Jesus made in the Gospel reading today is one that is very befitting for The Seventh Sunday of Easter. We are again given a description of the relationship of The Trinity and how we are invited in to experience that same relationship. Together we all make up The Living Body of Jesus Christ and it is through The Living Body, moved by The Holy Spirit, that we can then get to know The Father. It is through experiencing Jesus and knowing the Father that our eyes can be opened, our thoughts can be corrected, and our lives can slowly be led towards perfection. It is in our imperfections that we meet Jesus. It is through The Trinitarian Relationship that we are healed; our sins being forgiven. We can never forget that it is through The Love of God our sins are washed away and we are then made white as snow. As God said through the prophet Isaiah,
Though your sins be like scarlet, they may become white as snow; Though they be crimson red, they may become white as wool.”
What a glorious vision and a promise from our God. If we listen to Him, He will tell us exactly what we need to do so that we may overcome our wrongdoing and experience a joyous life with Him.
This serves as a reminder that God always has our back. Stephen was given a gift of vision, seeing Jesus standing at the right hand of the Father. This enabled Him to profess the divinity of Jesus Christ through his martyrdom. There was no need to fear what was to come, for Christ even conjured death through the Blood of the Cross. Stephen suffered a most horrendous death but kept his eyes transfixed on those things beyond death. When we are confronted with our own challenges, we are encouraged to use Saint Stephen as a model: We need to keep our eyes transfixed on that which is spiritual. The spiritual, which embodies all heavenly things, can never be overcome by the physical. The physical came from the spiritual, thus it is inferior to it in all respects. We all are destined for the same place. That is to The Father, through The Son; guided by The Holy Spirit.
All three Scripture Readings today and The Responsorial Psalm shout out the same thing:
Jesus Christ will never abandon us and that it is through Him that we will receive our birthright as God’s Children. Knowing this, we need to strive constantly to conduct ourselves as His children. Even though we will be chastised, disciplined, and also make mistakes, nothing we do cannot be undone through Jesus. To think differently leads only to arrogance on our part. Arrogance leads to a taking back our will, which can only lead us to a bad place. It is better to stay in a good place, which is always with Jesus. Jesus said that the love that the Father has for Him is the same love He has for us. That is how powerful God loves us and that love is within us as well as Jesus. This can serve as the foundation of our faith and can define our whole life if we allow it to do so. As Psalm 145 says,
“The Lord is just in all his ways
and loving in all his deeds.
He is close to all who call him,
who call on him from their hearts.
He grants the desires of those who fear him,
he hears their cry and he saves them.
The Lord protects all who love him;
but the wicked he will utterly destroy.”
These words are emphasized in The First Letter of John:
Little children,
let us love in deed and in truth
and not merely talk about it.
This is our way of knowing we are committed to the truth
and are at peace before him
no matter what our consciences may charge us with;
for God is greater than our hearts
and all is known to him……..
His commandment is this:
we are to believe in the name of his Son, Jesus Christ,
and are to love one another as he commanded us.
Those who keep his commandments remain in him
and he in them.
And this is how we know that he remains in us:
from the Spirit that he gave us.”
Love is the central theme. In the end, as it was in the beginning, it begins with love, continues with Love, and brings about a final product which is love. Love brings us to perfection. So, my brothers and sisters, let us love and let us be open to being loved.
Deacon Tom
No comments:
Post a Comment