Sixth Sunday of Easter
- 2 days ago
- 6 min read
Happy Mothers’ Day Weekend! I hope it is a good one for all of our Moms, Grand-Moms, and Great-Grand Moms … Happy Mothers’ Day to all of our God-Moms, Stepmoms, and Moms-to-Be. Happy Mothers’ Day to all those who watch out for us and lovingly care for us as if they were our Mom. And maybe we’re all grown up and don’t have to rely on Mom as much as we used to ... but remember ... we are who we are, and we are what we are … in part because we had a Mom taking care of us when we were little. If you still have your Moms with you … let them know how much you love them this weekend! I wish I could.
Entrance: Is 48:20 – “Proclaim a joyful sound and let it be heard; proclaim to the ends of the earth: The Lord has freed His people, alleluia.”
First Reading: Acts 8:5-8, 14-17 – “Peter and John laid hands on them, and they received the Holy Spirit.”
Responsorial Psalm: Ps 66:1-3, 4-5, 6-7, 16, 20 – “Let all the earth cry out to God with joy.”
Second Reading: 1 Pet 3:15-18 – “Put to death in the flesh, Christ was raised to life in the Spirit.”
Alleluia: Jn 14:23 – “Alleluia, alleluia. Whoever loves Me will keep My word, says the Lord, and My Father will love him and We will come to him. Alleluia, alleluia.”
Gospel: Jn 14:15-21 – “I will ask the Father and He will give you another Advocate.”
Communion: Jn 14:15-16 – “If you love Me, keep My commandments, says the Lord, and I will ask the Father and He will send you another Paraclete, to abide with you for ever, alleluia.”
Allow me now to ask you all a question. Have you ever met someone who had no hope? When I turn on the news, I think I see it in individuals whose homes were destroyed in a tornado or in a wildfire or in some other natural disaster ... they look utterly dejected ... in shock ... maybe with no hope. And what about the refugees who fled the war and persecution in the Ukraine or the Middle East or Africa? Lives upended. Futures uncertain. Is there hope they will one day return home ... or is there hope that their new lives wherever they may be will bring them everything they “hoped” for?
Helen Keller once said, “Optimism is the faith that leads to achievement. Nothing can be done without hope and confidence.” And considering that, we’re now almost half-way through May (I can’t believe I’m saying that) ... academic years are winding down with final exams ... 8th grade, high school, and college graduations are upon us ... many couples are preparing for weddings... and this weekend we celebrate our Moms. So, think about all those opportunities. Those preparing for exams need hope ... that they’ve prepared adequately ... hopefully ... they know the material ... and they’ll pass with flying colors. And for those graduating ... now looking for jobs or taking the next steps in their education ... they all need hope. And what about all of those young couples standing at the altar ... I would imagine that they all have hope as a new chapter in their lives begins once as they walk down the aisle after the ceremony and the minister has blessed their union. And this weekend, as we celebrate Mother’s Day, we celebrate and have the greatest models of hope ... we have our Moms.
Imagine the hope Moms possess as they conceive and carry a new life within them for nine months of pregnancy ... consider the hope they have as they endured the pain of childbirth and then saw the potential in their infant son or daughter as they grew up ... each one of us standing (or sitting) here today. I can’t begin to imagine how worried they were for us when they thought about the dangers of this world while we grew or are still growing up ... can we realize or even begin to realize or even know all of the sacrifices each one of them made, the sacrifices they continue to make, and the sacrifices they will make for us, their children? As we think about those things on this Mother’s Day weekend, consider the love and the hope of a pregnant woman … a Mom ... consider the hope she has for the child growing within her ... realizing that she is assisting God in a miracle. So, when you think about it … in the final scheme of things, to be a Mom is first and foremost ... someone who has hope.
And so, another question. Did you know that the Christian symbol for hope is the anchor? The explanation for that comes in the Letter to the Hebrews: “We have this as a sure and steadfast anchor of the soul, a hope that enters into the inner shrine behind the curtain, where Jesus has gone as a forerunner on our behalf ...” (Heb 6:19-20). The Ascension and all the hope it brings is just around the corner … just about a week away. And always know that if you find yourself short on hope, you can always ask God for more, because hope, like faith and love … the theological virtues … are gifts from God ... You can be sure He gives us what we need.
This weekend, we might remember that the early Christians who were persecuted and killed for their faith … and even in the midst of their struggles, they continued to have hope. We wouldn’t be standing here today if they didn’t. As Saint Peter said to them (and to us) in the Second Reading today: “Always be prepared to make a defense to any one who calls you to account for the hope that is in you ... yet do it with gentleness and reverence; and keep your conscience clear, so that when you are abused, those who revile your good behavior in Christ may be put to shame” (1 Pt 3:15-16). The explanation for that ... the ultimate basis of our hope ... is the fact that Jesus Christ, who had been put to death in the flesh, was brought to life in the Spirit.
Circumstances that test us, situations happen that are seemingly out of our control, even death itself ... but please know that none of those things are the final word my dear brothers and sisters … we all need to remember that God has the final word. Sister Dorothy used to say this to us seminarians a long time ago when she was part of the Vocations Office. And on a plaque I received as a gift on my Priesthood Ordination so succinctly states: “If He brings you to it ... He will bring you through it.” (And while that plaque didn’t have a card attached, I’m pretty sure who gave it to me.) It is advice I often share, and in the circumstances of late, it is a reality all the more real and present to me. God has the final word. It’s not about you ... it’s not about me ... but it’s all about God and His plan for each of us.
When Jesus was with His disciples at the Last Supper, His disciples were worried. As we have heard over the past few weeks, Jesus encouraged them to have hope. “Let not your hearts be troubled: believe in God, believe also in Me. In My Father’s house are many rooms; if it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you? And when I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, that where I am you may be also. And you know the way where I am going ... I will not leave you orphans; I will come to you.” (Jn 14:1-4; 18).
When we have hope, we can all sleep at night ... because we have faith, and therefore, ultimately, because of that, we have trust and we have hope that God is in between today’s problems and tomorrow’s solutions.
There once was a little boy who was sitting on the floor playing and his Mom was sitting on a chair next to him, working on something.
“Mom, what are you doing?”
“I’m embroidering.”
She had a cloth in a little round hoop. There were some dark threads and some bright threads, and all of them looked jumbled up on the underside. Looking up from the floor and seeing the knotted mess, he said, “Mom, whatever it is that you’re doing, it looks like a mess from down here.”
She smiled, looked down and said, “My son, you go about your playing, and when I am finished with my embroidering, I’ll put you on my knee and let you see it from my side.”
And so, eventually, she said, “Son, come sit here on my knee.”
He was thrilled to see a beautiful work of art, where from the underneath, it looked so messy.
Think about it. Maybe sometimes when things aren’t going the way we think they should, we say to God, “What are You doing?”
To which God responds, “I’m embroidering your life.”
“But it looks like such a mess! It seems so jumbled and ugly, with all those dark scary threads and very few bright threads.”
To which God will say, “My child, you go about your business and seek to do My will. One day, I’ll bring you to heaven. I’ll put you on My knee and you will see the design from My side. Then you will understand how I’ve been embroidering your life.”
Happy Mother’s Day!
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