{"id":2881,"date":"2019-06-02T12:05:25","date_gmt":"2019-06-02T16:05:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/?p=2881"},"modified":"2019-06-02T12:05:52","modified_gmt":"2019-06-02T16:05:52","slug":"7th-sunday-of-easter-year-c-homily-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/7th-sunday-of-easter-year-c-homily-2\/","title":{"rendered":"7th Sunday of Easter, Year C – Homily"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

7<\/a>th<\/a><\/sup> Sunday of Easter, Year C<\/a>
Acts 7:55-60
Psalm 97:1-2, 6-7, 8 (1a, 9a)
Revelation 22:12-14, 16-17, 20
John 17:20-26
June 2, 2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The words that we hear from Jesus today\nare his very last words before He is arrested and crucified.  They are words of prayer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Since Jesus knew what was coming, one\nmight expect his final prayer to focus solely on him.  It did not. \nJesus\u2019 prayer is for his disciples and all who will come to believe in\nhim through the words of the disciples. \nJesus is praying for us.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In fact, all of chapter 17 in John\u2019s\nGospel is a prayer of Jesus.  It is known\nas Jesus\u2019 \u201chigh priestly prayer.\u201d  In today\u2019s\nportion, Jesus centers on two things. First, that we, as his disciples, may be\none.  Then He speaks of knowing God our\nFather.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He prays that we \u201cmay be one<\/em>\u201d just as the Father and He is one.  The union between God our Father and Jesus is\na perfect union.  Along with the Holy\nSpirit, they are three persons but one <\/em><\/strong>God.  In two weeks, we will celebrate Trinity\nSunday as we recognize the relationship between the Father, Son, and Holy\nSpirit as a central mystery of our faith.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Jesus wants us to be part of that union,\nfor us to be \u201cone.\u201d  To lead us to this,\nHe came in the world because the world did not know the Father.    Jesus makes the Father known to us.  The Mosaic Law guided the people to know what\nis good.  Jesus comes to help us know God\nnot just as a giver of commandments but as one who loves us and wants to be one\nwith us.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Knowing God is not just knowing history\nand commandments.  It is much deeper than\nthat.  Think of all the people you\nknow.  Do you know them all in the same\nway?  How many people do you know their\nface and\/or their name but you know little more?  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

For those in school, there are probably a\nlot of students you know their name but you don\u2019t really know them.  The same can be true if you work.  You know people\u2019s names.  You may even know what they do in their\njob.  Your job may even be dependent on\nwhat they do but do you know them as a unique person, a child of God?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the same way, ask yourself how well you\nknow God.  Is God someone you say hello\nto on Sunday or is He part of your whole life? \n<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In Revelation, John tells us of God\u2019s\nwords, \u201cI am the Alpha and the Omega, the\nfirst and the last, the beginning and the end.<\/em>\u201d  God is eternal.  He was present at the beginning of time as we\nknow it and will be present at the end. \nGod transcends all that we see.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Is it possible for us to be one with God,\nGod who is all-knowing and all-powerful?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Stephen is an example of one who lives striving to be one with God.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Jesus began his high priestly prayer by \u201cLifting up his eyes to heaven<\/em>.\u201d  He does this as his persecutors are about to\nattack.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Stephen was being persecuted for preaching\nabout Jesus.  As Stephen faced this\npersecution, he \u201clooked up intently to heaven<\/em>.\u201d  Stephen did what Jesus did.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As Stephen was being stoned to death, \u2018he\ncalled out, \u201cLord Jesus, receive my\nspirit<\/em>,\u201d\u2019 paralleling Jesus\u2019 words on the Cross, \u201cFather, into your hands I commend my spirit.<\/em>\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Stephen\u2019s last words were, \u201cLord, do not hold this sin against them<\/em>,\u201d\nparalleling Jesus\u2019 words, \u201cFather,\nforgive them, they know not what they do.<\/em>\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Stephen was a human being just like\nus.  He was not perfect but he did know\nJesus\u2019 words, action, and love.  Stephen\ncentered his life on following Jesus. \nStephen sought to be one with God. \nHe submitted to the Father\u2019s Will. \nHe followed the example of Jesus and was \u201cfilled with the Holy Spirit<\/em>.\u201d \n<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Knowing Jesus can start in the human sense\nof knowing about Jesus\u2019 life and what He did for us.  Knowing Jesus includes knowing what He\ntaught.  Truly knowing Jesus means\nopening our hearts and souls to him, to be one with the Father and him.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

7th Sunday of Easter, Year CActs 7:55-60Psalm 97:1-2, 6-7, 8 (1a, 9a)Revelation 22:12-14, 16-17, 20John 17:20-26 June 2, 2019 The words that we hear from Jesus today are his very last words before He is arrested and crucified.  They are words of prayer. Since Jesus knew what was coming, one might expect his final prayer …<\/p>\n

Continue reading ‘7th 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":[602,447],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pMTPk-Kt","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2881"}],"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=2881"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2881\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2883,"href":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2881\/revisions\/2883"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2881"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2881"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2881"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}