Homily for the Evening Mass on the Sixth Sunday of Easter
Readings for Year A: Acts 8:5-8.14-17; Psalm 65; I Peter 3:15-18; John 14:15-21
Later this week we celebrate the feast of the Ascension and our Gospel is one which looks forward to Pentecost. At the last supper Jesus promises his disciples he will not leave them alone, he will send them the Holy Spirit, “the Advocate”. We get quite a lot of legal images in the scriptures and here is one of them. Here the Holy Spirt is portrayed as being like a defence counsel, one who will pleads our cause, the one who is on our side. This contrasts perhaps with the picture of Satan in the book of Job who acts a kind of prosecutor, challenging God to put Job to the test.
The Holy Spirit then is one who is on our side. Paul talks about the Spirit coming to help us in our weakness, praying for us when we do not know what to say. The Spirit in our Gospel is also the Spirit of truth. The Spirit keeps us faithful and helps us to recognise and work against those false ideas and temptations which can take us away from God, portrayed by Jesus as, “the world”.
In the first reading from the Acts of the Apostles we see the Spirit at work in the early Church. It reads like the way we in the west celebrate confirmation, at least with children. Here are the Samaritan who have been baptised by Philip who are then visited by Peter and John who pray that they may receive the Holy Spirit, lay their hands on them, and they receive the Spirit. It is the Spirit which has given the Apostles the courage to proclaim the Good News, even to people they did not expect would receive it. It is the Spirit which sustains and guides the early Church.
To return to our Gospel. Jesus promises the Spirit because he is going away. There are two ways we can see this. Firstly, this is the Last Supper, Jesus is about to go to his passion. The disciples are about to experience the death of Jesus. Secondly, after the resurrection Jesus is with them and teaches them. The other Gospels then tell us the story of his ascension, which, as I say we celebrate on Thursday. He will no longer be with them physically he assures them he will be with them. He will live in them. They will share in his relationship with the Father. They will be loved by the Father and the Son.
Jesus tells this to his disciples because they are likely to feel abandoned, deserted, in need of hope. In our present situation, as we deal with the virus, we may feel many of the same things. We are all to some extent isolated. Isolated perhaps from family and friends. Isolated from our familiar activities. We may be experiencing loneliness. In this situation we can easily feel isolated from God, can feel frightened and abandoned. As we continue to celebrate Easter we can take to heart Our Lord’s words in the Gospel. Because of his death and resurrection we are not alone, Christ and the Father are with us, we share their life. What is more the Spirit is with us. Let us listen to the Spirit’s promptings which are those which lead us to hope, to trust in God and turn outward towards others, to reflect the love of God we have received, even in times where we can easily feel alone.
Fr Chris Pedley, SJ