Sixth Sunday of Easter, Year C - Sunday, May 25, 2025 (EPISODE: 531)

Sixth Sunday of Easter, Year C - Sunday, May 25, 2025 (EPISODE: 531)

Readings for 22-May-22 - Sixth Sunday of Easter, Year C

FIRST READING: Acts 15:1-2, 22-29

Ps 67:2-3, 5, 6+8. "O God, let all the nations praise you"

SECOND READING: Rev 21:10-14, 22-23

GOSPEL ACCLAMATION (John 14:23). Alleluia, alleluia! All who love me will keep my words, and my Father will love them, and we will come to them.

GOSPEL: John 14:23-29

[Image Credit: by Kayla Waldron - Abide (32239). Free Download, John 15, dwell, vine and branches. Uploaded: Aug 26, 2015. Via CreationSwap]

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Please listen to the audio-recordings of the Mass – (Readings, prayers and homily), for Sixth Sunday of Easter, Year C - 22-May-22 by clicking this link here: https://soundcloud.com/user-633212303/faith-hope-and-love-ep-531/s-wPcoKnJhSyx - (EPISODE: 531)

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The Father and the Son (through the Holy Spirit) will come and "make their home in us"

The readings this weekend all speak of the Holy Spirit. The theme of the readings is all about the Spirit, as our Easter Season quickly approaches Pentecost.

We cannot underestimate the importance of the Holy Spirit in our lives and in the life of the church. Without the Holy Spirit, the church would be ineffective, and we, the disciples of Jesus, need the action and the inspiration of the Holy Spirit to be effective in what we seek to achieve.

FHL 

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There's a line in the first reading that I really love. The words are, "It has been decided by the Holy Spirit and by us." [Acts 15:28]. Or, another translation puts it, "It seemed good to the Holy Spirit and to us that…" the following be done.

This shows that the early church and its disciples, and its decisions, in practical ways, when faced with a new question for new situations and new times, gathered together in prayer, as always, and actively discerned what the Holy Spirit wanted. And then they made a decision, which was an authentic act of the Holy Spirit with the active cooperation of the disciples, working as one. We can see how the Holy Spirit becomes so much a part of their lives and our lives.

It fills our lives, our hearts and minds. And the major decisions of the church and the major decisions of Christians are inspired and lead from and to the Spirit. Christian life for us disciples becomes this beautiful cooperation, a unified action both of our own will and intellect, and also of God's Holy Spirit inspiring and perfecting it.

It's interesting that this phrase has been put to practical effect in the history of the church. Even to this day, it's my understanding that some religious orders, when their superior or leader is deciding on a very important matter, for example, to send a religious person to a new appointment or a new mission, they would write in the official letter of appointment this beautiful formal phrase, and it sounds familiar because it's from the scripture today, it seemed good to the Holy Spirit and to us that you be sent here, or that this be done, and then follows with the instruction. Beautiful.

And it's more than a formality, it captures the dynamic between the disciple and the Spirit, and how the Spirit fills up everything we do and say. Without it, even our best efforts could be quite misguided or quite fruitless. There's a recognition in this of not only the decision-making process and wisdom of the leader, which is real, and it's necessarily a prayerful discernment, but it's guided and graced by the Holy Spirit in everything.

We're invited by Christ to be so connected to Jesus that our decisions, our actions, our priorities will be guided by and connected to Jesus through the Spirit, without any loss of free will, and in fact, with an opening up of that free will to do what it's for, to serve God and to serve life. I love that. It's beautiful.

I also absolutely love the Gospel today. It's mysterious and very profound, and it's so beautiful and really important to our understanding. Jesus says in the Gospel that He and the Father, through the action of the Holy Spirit, will come and make their home in your hearts, make their home in you, and that we will be connected to Christ, united to Christ in the very life of the Holy Trinity, Father, Son and Spirit.

We will be in communion, in the broader sense of that word, with Christ in a very real way through our obedience and our love. I love all those passages in the Gospels where Jesus clearly, deliberately and explicitly speaks of the union He shares with the Holy Spirit and with the Heavenly Father, and how they abide in each other. That is, they live in and within each other.

They make a home in each other's hearts and beings. This union, this communion, is inviting us to share and abide in God's life. This is His unique and mind-blowing gift to us who become His disciples.

Can there be anything more wonderful? Having God come and make a home in us, and us make a home in God. It's that close. It's that beautiful.

We could never presume to have this or be allowed to have it, but it happens. Jesus promises to send the Holy Spirit for a reason. It's in order that we would always be connected to Jesus, abide in Him, and Him in us, and Him in the Father, and the Father in the Spirit.

We will abide in His teachings, live in His love, the Spirit will live within us, will constantly remind us of Christ and His teachings, bring Him to mind, make Him present to us. God will truly live with His people and abide in and within us. God will walk with us, His people, always.

And God will be that light to show us the way through our journey through life. So really, we have nothing to fear, even when life is far from easy or simple. Finally, and most importantly, Christ promises us the gift of peace.

This is a gift we all long for, and for which the world longs to receive. A peace, He hastens to add, that the world could not give and cannot achieve of itself. God's peace is all we need, through any tragedies, through the joys and sorrows of life, as well as the failures and successes of life.

Our Lord, with the gift of the Holy Spirit, has gifted us with God's divine peace and unity and connection to God that can hardly be imagined. And also the very real authority to cooperate with and in God, and participate in real decision making in Christian living. Always in union with Christ, through the power of the Holy Spirit, and connected to the Father through Jesus, we participate in, we discern with the Spirit for the issues and questions that come up anew in our lives.

So the answers aren't all black and white in the scriptures, although the Spirit and the living word is always ever new as well as ever ancient. But the Spirit is alive and God's word is alive in our community now, in the faithful, in the teaching deposit of the Church, and of course in the scriptures, in the sacraments. So we have been given the authority to discern rightly the Spirit's guidance in new questions that haven't been thought of before, that weren't even known of 2000 years ago, but they're issues now.

God engages us and our talents and gifts, which are God-given and Spirit-inspired, and uses all our faculties, our knowledge, our intellect, our understanding of the scriptures, as interpreted by the Church, which itself has been constantly inspired by the Holy Spirit through the ages. This freedom to decide is also a deep and challenging responsibility. It doesn't give us license to do what we want, but rather discretion, and which frees us to be open to God's ways and values, and allows us, as always, with prayerful guidance and prudence of God's grace, to make a decision to questions that need to be answered as best we can as humans, for we are limited beings.

Even though we participate in God's grace, we won't attain the fullness until the kingdom of God in its fullness. 

We are right to trust that God is there to guide and direct us, not from a distance, not even from the sidelines but close to us, but right in and with us, inspiring us as we contemplate the issues and questions of our present age. 

This is far different, though, from thinking that what I feel is what God feels, or what I want to do is what God wants to do, because we're united. That's a distortion, and a terrible one; that's not how it works.

 We saw and recall with love, the profound discernment and cooperation and love in (the late) Pope Francis's exercise of his papal ministry, which was inspiring to Christian and non-Christian people alike throughout the world. 

We trust in the power and authority and discernment that God has given us, as a body of Christ, so that we may continue to apply the gospel in each and every new situation and new circumstance of daily life.

God is with us. God abides with us and in us. God guides, leads and inspires us.

God's Holy Spirit shows us the way and gives us the direction.

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References:

Fr Paul W. Kelly

[Image Credit: by Kayla Waldron - Abide (32239). Free Download, john 15, dwell, vine and branches. Uploaded: Aug 26, 2015. Via CreationSwap]

Sixth Sunday of Easter, Year C (22-May-22) (EPISODE: 531 )

Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. (or/ The Lord be with You)

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{{May Our Lord's generosity inspire you.}}

Coming together as Gods family, let us call to mind our sins.

Lord Jesus, you came to gather the nations into the peace of God's kingdom: Lord, have mercy// You come in word and in sacrament to strengthen us and make us holy: Christ, have mercy//You will come again in glory with salvation for your people: Lord, have mercy.

May almighty God have mercy on us, forgive us our sins, and bring us to everlasting life. Amen.

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Ps 67:2-3, 5, 6+8. "O God let all the nations praise you"

GOSPEL ACCLAMATION (John 14:23). Alleluia, alleluia! All who love me will keep my words, and my Father will love them and we will come to them.

Memorial Acclamation

2. When we eat this Bread and drink this Cup, we proclaim your Death, O Lord, until you come again.

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PREFACE: Sundays Ordinary III

Eucharistic Prayer III

Communion side. pwk: RH

(theme variation: full )

(pre+post variation: v2-short)

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{I am very grateful for you joining us for this special time of prayer and reflection.}

Go in peace, glorifying the Lord by your life.

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Archive of homilies and reflections: http://homilycatholic.blogspot.com.au 

To contact Fr. Paul, please email: paulwkelly68@gmail.com

To listen to the weekly homily audio podcast, please click this link here: https://soundcloud.com/user-633212303/tracks 

Further information relating to the audio productions linked to this Blog:

"Faith, Hope and Love - Christian worship and reflection" - Led by Rev Paul Kelly

Prayers and chants — Roman Missal, 3rd edition, © 2010, The International Commission on English in the liturgy. (ICEL)

Scriptures - New Revised Standard Version: © 1989, and 2009 by the NCC-USA. (National Council of Churches of Christ - USA)

"The Psalms" ©1963, 2009, The Grail - Collins publishers.

Prayers of the Faithful - " Together we pray" by Robert Borg'. E.J. Dwyer, Publishers, (1993) . (Sydney Australia).

Sung "Mass In Honour of St. Ralph Sherwin" - By Jeffrey M. Ostrowski. The Gloria, Copyright © 2011 ccwatershed.org.

- "Today I Arise" - For Trisha J Kelly. Original words and music by Paul W. Kelly. Inspired by St Patrick's Prayer. Arranged and sung, with additional lyrics by Stefan Kelk. 2019.

"Quiet Time." Instrumental Reflection music. Written by Paul W Kelly. 1988, 2007. & This arrangement: Stefan Kelk, 2020.

Sound Engineering and editing - P.W. Kelly.

Microphones: - Shure Mv-5

Editing equipment: NCH software - MixPad Multitrack Studio Recording Software

NCH – WavePad Audio Editing Software. Masters Edition v 12.44

Sound Processing: iZotope RX 6 Audio Editor

[Production - KER - 2025]

May God bless and keep you.

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