Seventh Sunday of Easter

Jan 14 2025

Scripture Study for

Those who were with Jesus as he ascended return to the city and devote themselves to prayer. The list of apostles in the first reading corresponds with other lists found in the Gospel accounts, with the exception of Judas Iscariot. Simon is identified as a member of the Zealots, a militant wing of the Jewish independence movement. The women who accompany these men might be their wives or women followers of Jesus who came with him from Galilee and who attended to his burial. His mother was there along with his brothers. These latter no longer questioned the authenticity of Jesus’ ministry. They now join his disciples in prayer, open to the unfolding of God’s plan.

The author of the Letter of Peter is very clear about the reason for the suffering of the Christians. They are either defamed for the name of Christ or persecuted for being Christians. Since their religious teaching and values frequently prevent them from engaging in behavior that is part of pagan culture, they often have to endure misunderstanding, mistrust, and resentment. Their way of living is considered antisocial at best, treasonable at worst. The author of the letter tells them to bear the name “Christian” proudly, and to endure any misfortune that might befall them because of it.

This passage from John’s Gospel is commonly known as the High Priestly prayer. Jesus speaks of having accomplished his work and of returning to his Father. It is clearly a farewell message in which Jesus prays for himself and for his disciples. The theme upon which most other themes depend is the unparalleled relationship between Jesus and God. The glorification for which Jesus prays can now be seen within the context of this unique relationship. While on earth, Jesus revealed the name of his Father through the life that he lived and the ministry that he performed. Finally, in leaving the world, Jesus prays for his disciples who remain within it.

Jan 10 2025

Prepare for the Spirit, Together and in Prayer

Have you ever wondered why we don’t have a liturgical season that specifically leads to Pentecost? We have Advent to get ready for Christmas. We have Lent to cleanse our hearts for Easter. Why not a unique time to prepare ourselves for the indwelling of the Spirit and the equipping for mission?

Or do we?

In today’s first reading, the apostles and the broader group of Easter witnesses gather to pray. They are getting ready. They may not have consciously realized it, but we can see it clearly in hindsight: they are on another edge of time, the edge of some happening that is about to be personally life-changing and historically world-changing. They are getting ready for Pentecost.

Change experts say that there are stages to prepare to make a significant change that lasts. If you want to lose weight, first take some time to analyze what you eat and when and why. Then plan how to diet accordingly. If you intend to move to a new country, take some time to learn the language and the customs and prepare yourself mentally to make that radical shift. Enduring change requires a time of preparation.

God must be the original change expert. Wisely, Jesus did not throw the disciples into mission right away. Luke says that he taught them how to understand the scriptures. He repeatedly asked them to pray and prepare. It will not be an easy task that he asks of them. They will be persecuted. They will share in his sufferings. In today’s Gospel, he prays for them to be one. He wants to make sure that they have the tools needed to carry out the mission—both the empowerment of the Spirit and the strength of community.

Holy saints who have gone before us, pray for that for us as well.

Consider/Discuss

Do we have the tools that we need to carry out Christ’s mission? Are we as Holy Spirit–empowered as we need to be? Is our community strong? How can we pray and plan to allow God’s revitalization to happen?
The Holy Spirit is often said to be the most “overlooked” member of the Trinity, especially in the western Church. How can we liturgically elevate the feast of Pentecost so that the Spirit’s empowerment and mission also get their due?

Living and Praying the Word

Spirit of the Living God, your church on earth needs you. Help us to do our part. We consecrate ourselves to you in whatever walk of life you have called us. Help us to devote ourselves to prayer for the church and your fullness. You rushed in upon the disciples and changed them into holy men and women. Rush upon us this week too as we prepare our hearts for your feast.

Jan 10 2025

Scripture Study for

At his ascension, Jesus had ordered the apostles to remain in Jerusalem to await their baptism by the Holy Spirit (1:4–5). Now they return to Jerusalem just across the Kidron Valley from Mount Olivet—no further than a Jew was allowed to walk on the Sabbath. It is characteristic of Acts that Jesus’ followers pray together at important moments, as they do here. The presence of the women, including the mother of Jesus, underscores the important role that women will continue to play in Luke’s account. The list of the eleven apostles (minus Judas Iscariot) sets the stage for his replacement in the following passage (1:15–26).

Peter exhorts his audience to make sure that if they suffer, it is for the right reason. As he has already pointed out several times, Christ himself suffered, and so it is to be expected that his followers will, too. Yet as long as they are being insulted or suffering for the name of Christ, they have cause to rejoice, for his experience of glory will be theirs, too. Not all suffering is cause for rejoicing, of course, but only unjust suffering. Suffering as a result of grievous sin, of course, does not reflect the suffering of Christ, and so does not lead to glory.

In his prayer to the Father at the Last Supper, Jesus states a central theme of John’s Gospel: eternal life consists in knowing the Father and the Son he sent. Jesus has given glory to God by making the Father known on earth. Now he asks the Father to give him the glory he already possesses as the Word who came into the world (1:1–14). As the Prologue states, that world did not receive the Word; Jesus affirms here that only those whom God had given him “out of the world” believed in him. The world here means those aspects of human reality that are opposed to God. This is why Jesus does not pray “for the world,” which is implacably opposed to him, but only for those who have believed in him and whom he now leaves, for the time being, in the midst of that hostile world.

Dec 16 2024

Let Us Pray

We witness three intense moments of prayer in today’s scriptures. The first is Stephen’s prayer as he is about to be stoned. Filled with the Holy Spirit, he sees a vision of Jesus at the Father’s throne. As a crowd is beginning to stone him, he prays, “Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.” As Jesus entrusted himself to the Father, Stephen entrusts himself to Jesus. Then Stephen also makes a prayer asking forgiveness for his killers.

In the Gospel, we witness the final words of Jesus’ great prayer at the Last Supper, a prayer for those future generations who will come to believe because of those who preach the gospel. This profound prayer asks that all believers participate in the communion Jesus has with the Father, entering into the mystical indwelling of the Father in the Son and the Son in the Father. The communion in the very life of the Father and the Son will come about as the work of the Spirit.

In the final vision in the book of Revelation, John the Seer invites us to join him in the simplest prayer of all, initiated by the Spirit and the bride, the church of the future, calling out to the One who is the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end, the bright morning star: “Come, Lord Jesus, come!”

The Easter season’s final gifts before the feast of Pentecost are prayers naming the Spirit’s work: our surrender to the Lord, forgiveness of others, communion in the Trinity, the final coming of the Lord.

Consider/Discuss

Do these prayers reflect your needs?
What would you want your final prayer to be?

Responding to the Word

Come, Lord Jesus, come this day into my life. Send your Spirit to draw me more fully into the intimate communion you share with your Father and with all believers. Help me to pray with attentiveness and commitment the prayer you gave us: Our Father . . .

Dec 16 2024

Scripture Study for

If the members of the Sanhedrin had believed what Stephen was alleging, they would have had to conclude that Jesus’ claims about himself had been true, and that they had wrongfully put him to death. Instead, they closed their hearts, covered their ears, and sentenced Stephen to stoning. No reason is given for the presence of the young Saul (Paul). Was he a member of a local synagogue? Was he merely a spectator? Whatever the reason, here Stephen, not Paul, is the hero, the one who successfully patterns his life and death after that of his Master.

In the reading from Revelation, the risen Jesus announces that he is the Alpha and the Omega, the first and the last, the beginning and the end. These are all polar pairs, which indicate that he encompasses everything. He also identifies himself with two messianic titles: the root or branch of David, and the bright morning star, which announces the new day. Though he announces that he will judge everyone not merely according to their faith but according to their deeds, his attention is focused on those who have been faithful. This reading suggests that the Lord’s coming is something to look forward to with joy.

Jesus prays for the unity of all believers, a unity that does not merely resemble the unity that exists between Jesus and his Father, but actually participates in it. Furthermore, joined to Jesus, believers share in the glory of Jesus that was manifested through his death, resurrection, and exaltation. Believers are to manifest this divine union to the world so that the world will see not only that God sent Jesus, but also that God loves believers with the same love with which Jesus is loved. Having made God’s name known to believers, Jesus asks that these believers might be with him. If the love with which God loves Jesus resides in those who believe in him, Jesus himself will abide in them.