Reflection/Homily for the 7th Sunday of Easter Year B 12th May 2024

Homily for the 7th Sunday of Easter Year B. 

Acts 1:5m15-17,20a,20c-26. Psalm 103:1-2,11-12,19-20ab. 1 John 4:11-16. John 17:11b-19.

Theme: "May They Be One."

In the first reading, St. Peter spoke on behalf of about one hundred and twenty brethren (brothers and sisters in the Lord) on the need to have a replacement for Judas Iscariot to keep to the twelve Apostles initially selected by our Lord Jesus Christ. The man to be chosen must fulfil two conditions. Firstly, he must have accompanied them during all the time that the Lord Jesus Christ went in and out among them, beginning from the Baptism of John the Baptist until the day when Christ Jesus ascended into heaven. Secondly, he must become with them a witness to the Lord's resurrection. The person in summary must be able to testify to the Lord's resurrection and also to the preaching and miracles of the Lord.

Two men were presented who fulfilled these conditions Peter demanded. They now request the Lord to decide for them which of the two men to replace Judas Iscariot. They cast lots for the two men, and the lot fell on Matthias, and he was immediately enrolled with the eleven Apostles.

The number of one hundred and two awaiting the coming of the Holy Spirit on the day of Pentecost is based upon family, upon loyalty, and upon a bound of love. All these must be found in the true Church of our Lord Jesus Christ.

We have it in the second reading: "Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. No man has ever seen God; if we love one another, God abides in us" (1 John 4:11). Even though we cannot see God on this earth, we can experience his presence and feel the true love for him to expand in our hearts if we love one another.

In today's Gospel, we are told one of the rare instances of what our Lord prayed for. One of them was the unity of his followers: "Holy Father, keep them in your name, which you have given me, that they may be one, even as we are one" (John 17:11). Our Lord, who knows He is about to finish the work given to him by the Father in heaven prays that the disciples the Father has given him will remain united in true faith and love in order to carry the mission He has given them. Their task will be hard, for though living in this world, their activities will be directed to the other world in heaven, and the worldly minded opponents of things that are spiritual will hate them as they hated him before them. Christ Jesus appeals to his Father to protect and keep true to their vocations, the disciples He has given him.

God the Father and God the Son were one by nature and divine perfection. The disciples could only imitate this unity from afar, but they could have perfect human unity among themselves. This unity must be modelled on that of the Blessed Trinity: ".... that they may be one, even as we are one."

It would be a unity in diversity, just like that of the Blessed Trinity. In the Trinity, you have the intimate union between the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. That is why they are still one God, even though they are three persons. But their is also diversity: each person has his own identity, distinct from that of the others: the Father is not the Son, the Son is not the Holy Spirit, the Holy is neither the Father nor the Son.

In the same way, the disciples of our Lord Jesus Christ should be intimately united in the essentials of their faith so that it is the same Christianity that they embrace and profess. They cannot disagree on essentials like the articles of the Creed, for instance. Any would-be disciples who refused to subscribe to essentials of the Christian faith would really not be  disciples of our Lord Jesus Christ. They would not be Christians. But on non-essentials - things that are culture-bound, for instance - there should be room for legitimate differences among Christ's disciples, differences that do not undermine the essentials.

Are we truly one as Christians? The answer is no. We are not united as Christians. What then has happened to our Lord's prayer for us to be one in today's Gospel? This prayer needs our cooperation. The problem is not God's problem, but we are the problem. God never forces his will on us. 

In this prayer, our Lord communicates in full measure the love of God and prays that this love remains radiant, pure, and true, guiding our every step and moving us to love one another, thus breaking every barrier of hatred, division, greed or dissension. We are in a world starved with genuine love because it is clouded by the rampaging darkness of evil. Our Lord Jesus Christ places all of us in his heavenly Father's hands that we may be saved from the darkness of the world, but also that we may reflect the light of God's glory upon this darkened world by being agents of God's love and peace.

May God grant us the grace to be agents of his love and peace to bring about the unity He prayed for through Christ our Lord. Amen