{"id":2877,"date":"2019-05-26T12:19:00","date_gmt":"2019-05-26T16:19:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/?p=2877"},"modified":"2019-05-26T12:19:07","modified_gmt":"2019-05-26T16:19:07","slug":"6th-sunday-of-easter-year-c-homily-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/6th-sunday-of-easter-year-c-homily-2\/","title":{"rendered":"6th Sunday of Easter, Year C – Homily"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

6<\/a>th<\/a><\/sup> Sunday of Easter, Year C<\/a>
Acts 15:1-2, 22-29
Psalm 67:2-3, 5, 6, 8 (4)
Revelation 21:10-14, 22-23
John 14:23-29
May 26, 2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The first words of Jesus in today\u2019s gospel\nare, \u201cWhoever loves me will keep my word<\/em>.\u201d  One might think that Jesus is making \u201ckeeping\nhis word,\u201d meaning doing what He says, a condition of love.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

There are people who do that, \u201cif you love\nme, you will do what I want<\/strong>.\u201d  I think we need to look at what Jesus says\ndifferently.  We need to pay attention to\nthe order of the words.  He first\nspeaks<\/em><\/strong> of loving him and then speaks of keeping his word.  If we love Jesus, which we do based on the\nlove He shows us, we know we can count on him. \nWe \u201ckeep his word\u201d because we love him and trust him.  We know we can count on him.  \u201cLove\u201d involves what we feel on the inside.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Likewise, Jesus says, \u201cPeace I leave with you, my peace I give to\nyou.<\/em>\u201d  What is the \u201cpeace\u201d that Jesus\nspeaks of?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If you follow the news, when they speak of\n\u201cpeace,\u201d it is generally in the context of countries or groups not being at war\nwith each other.  This is something we\nneed to seek.  We need to work to get\nalong with each other but the \u201cpeace\u201d of which Jesus speaks is something\ndifferent.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sometimes, we keep quiet, meaning we don\u2019t\nsay what is really on our minds, to keep from arguing with others around\nus.  Sometimes that is the best thing we\ncan do but is it really \u201cpeace\u201d?  Are we\nat peace within ourselves?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Jesus\u2019 peace refers to the peace that we\nseek in our souls.  We learn to state our\nopinion when appropriate when we disagree but then we trust in God.  We hand our worries over to Jesus mindful of\nhis words, \u201cDo not let your hearts be\ntroubled or afraid.<\/em>\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This doesn\u2019t mean things are the way we\nwant them to be.  It doesn\u2019t mean they\nare the way that Jesus wants them to be. \nIt does mean that we trust that God will walk with us and lead us\nthrough all adversity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This is the \u201cpeace\u201d of which Jesus\nspeaks.  It gives us the joy that only\nGod can give.  In turn, the joy makes our\nsouls gleam \u201cwith the splendor of God<\/em>\u201d\nand radiant like jasper.  This is routed\nin the hope we have knowing Jesus\u2019 love for us on the Cross.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This is what Jesus calls us to be.  When we come together in trust, hope, and\nlove in Jesus, we become the Church that Jesus wants us to be.  Here, when I speak of \u201cChurch\u201d, I speak is\nnot about the building or a single community. \nIt is about our fundamental identity, coming together as Christian\ndisciples united in a vision of hope.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

With there be disagreements within the\nchurch as an institution?  Yes.  We see that in the Acts of the Apostles.  There was \u201cno little dissension and debate<\/em>\u201d concerning whether or not Gentile\nconverts needed to follow the Mosaic practices regarding things like\ncircumcision and the food laws.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

They could have let that dissension be\ntheir undoing but they didn\u2019t.  They\ncould have let it tear them apart but they didn\u2019t.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

What did they do?  They came together with the apostles and\nelders in Jerusalem to discuss it and come to an agreement, to be in \u201cone accord<\/em>\u201d offering the \u201csame message.<\/em>\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Who gets to decide what the message is?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Living in a democracy, one would say the\npeople vote and majority makes the decision.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That is not what we are talking about\nhere.  Did they dialogue?  Yes. \nDid they each offer their own opinions? \nYes, but the goal of each person is not to be rooted in getting their\nway.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

It is to discern what God\u2019s way, what\nGod\u2019s will is.  When they come to\nagreement, they do not begin by speaking of their decision.  No, they say, \u201cIt is the decision of the Holy Spirit.<\/em>\u201d  It is essential that we let the Holy Spirit\nguide us to the truth.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This is the same Holy Spirit our regional\nplanning group tried to listen to for the last eighteen months to come up with\na plan.  We learned last week that we\nwill be implementing the plan at the end of June.  It will come with challenges.  The temptation can be to get our own way, to\nthink we have all the answers.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Holy Spirit does not speak through\njust one person.  That\u2019s why we need to\nlisten to one another calmly and peacefully. \nWe need to be willing to speak up when called but in accord with the\nSpirit.  We need to let our love for\nJesus be at the heart of who we are.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We need to hand our worries over to\nGod.  We need to mean what we say when,\nin the Lord\u2019s Prayer, we pray, \u201cthy will be done.<\/em><\/strong>\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

6th Sunday of Easter, Year CActs 15:1-2, 22-29Psalm 67:2-3, 5, 6, 8 (4)Revelation 21:10-14, 22-23John 14:23-29May 26, 2019 The first words of Jesus in today\u2019s gospel are, \u201cWhoever loves me will keep my word.\u201d  One might think that Jesus is making \u201ckeeping his word,\u201d meaning doing what He says, a condition of love.  There are …<\/p>\n

Continue reading ‘6th Sunday of Easter, Year C – Homily’ »<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false}}},"categories":[29,82],"tags":[601],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pMTPk-Kp","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2877"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2877"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2877\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2878,"href":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2877\/revisions\/2878"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2877"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2877"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2877"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}