Seventh Sunday of Easter Year C

Sunday, May 28, 2022

Seventh Sunday of Easter Year C

First Reading: Acts 7:55-60

Responsorial Psalm: Psalms 97:1 and 2b, 6 and 7c, 9

Second Reading: Revelation 22: 12 – 14, 16-19, 20

Gospel: John 17: 20-26

Last Thursday we celebrated the Ascension of Our Lord and the whole Church is in prayer for a renewed outpouring of the Holy Spirit. Today is the third day of the novena to the Holy Spirit. When the Holy Spirit came upon the Apostles, the first thing He did to them was to make them one mind and one heart. The liturgy today draws our attention to the will of Jesus that all who believe in Him will be one and invites us to be more and more intentional in praying and working toward this unity.

The Gospel is part of the farewell prayer of Jesus called the High Priestly prayer where He intercedes for the Church. The context is immediately before His betrayal and crucifixion, but the horizon extends beyond the historical moment to all time. Jesus said, “Holy Father, I pray not only for them, but also for those who will believe in me through their word.” He prayed that all who believe in Him may be one as He and the Father are one. It is a prayer that those who believe in Him be filled with the Holy Spirit because the Holy Spirit is the bond of unity between the Father and the Son. Oneness or unity is a character of God. The opposite which is division or divisiveness is not of God. In fact, the Greek word ‘diabolous’ which translates devil means “divider.”

The mission of the Apostles to preach the Gospel will last till the end of the world. That is why the Apostles were careful to appoint successors. Apostolicity consists in the Pope and the Bishops being the successors of Peter and the Apostles, holding the authority of the Apostles and proclaiming the same teaching as they did. The first century of Christianity was marked by a strong unity. The second century was marked by division. The fathers of the Church added unity to the note of apostolicity as a mark of the true Church. Unity was restored in the third century but never like before. The protestant reformation of the 16th century became the biggest scandal of the Christian faith.

It remains a big scandal of the Christian faith that the religion that is the religion of love, built on the foundation of one God, one faith, one savior, one shepherd and one baptism is divided. Jesus prayed that they may be one “that the world may know that you sent me.” The unity is the Church is supposed to be a testimony that the Father has sent the Son. This is why division among those who believe in Christ is a scandal and a disservice to the missionary mandate to preach the good news to all nations.

Today there is a renewed movement for Christian unity. During the eighteenth century, protestant missionaries were involved in struggle over people to convert. This problem led them to found the world council of churches in 1948. It was built on the foundation of encounter, dialogue and above all collaboration. This movement began outside of the Catholic Church. Earlier on January 6, 1928, Pope Pius XI published an encyclical he called Mortalium Animos – On Religious Unity, and argued that the only true ecumenism is the return of everyone to the true Church of Christ. This document which expressed the unchanging faith of Holy Mother Church angered the protestants and became an obstacle to the ecumenical movement. The Catholic Church had a negative attitude towards ecumenism and so was a late entrant to the ecumenical movement. So, while earlier encyclicals condemned the ecumenical movement, the Vatican II document on Ecumenism – Unitatis Redintegratio defined it as movement fostered by the Holy Spirit for the unity of Christians. Unity in the Church is a particular gift of the Holy Spirit. He is the principle of unity in the Church. Where there is the Holy Spirit, there is unity and where there is disunity, there is the spirit of diabolous.

The first fruit of the Holy Spirit is love. Where there is love, there is unity. The Holy Spirit fosters true love, uniting us to God and to one another so that we have true friendship with all who belong to Christ. This is the only way we can become a true sign of God in the world, the God who is One and Three, the God who is love. The unity that Christ prayed for also includes unity of believing. The Holy Spirit is the Spirit of truth and will lead us to the whole truth. The whole truth can only be grasped in unity and not in division.

We are called to have the same desire for unity as Jesus Christ. The privileged instrument for participation in Christian unity is prayer. Jesus Himself left us this wish for unity through prayer to the Father. As the soul is to the body, so is prayer to the Christian unity. Prayer not only puts us before God who is triune, but reminds us that unity is a gift of the Spirit which we must ask for. Let us pray for a renewed outpouring of the Holy Spirit in the Church so that we may truly be one.

Happy Sunday

Rev. Fr. Chidi Onwuka M,Ss.Cc