Seventh Sunday of Easter – Year C
1st reading: Acts 7: 55 -60
2nd reading: Rev. 22: 12-14, 16-17, 20
Gospel: John 17: 20-26
A warm welcome to all our visitors especially the group of young French scouts visiting here from London.
It is said that when St John the Evangelist was in his elderly, tender years as an old man, he repeated often simply to his brothers: ‘Mes petits enfants, aimons-nous les uns les autres. C’est le commandemant du Seigneur.’ I bet you didn’t know he spoke French! My little children, let us love one another. It is the Lord’s command.
Today is World Communications Day, as agreed to by our Bishops Conference. As a reflection for this day, Pope Francis writes on the importance of listening. He writes:
“In fact, we are losing the ability to listen to those in front of us, both in the normal course of everyday relationships and when debating the most important issues of civil life. At the same time, listening is undergoing an important new development in the field of communication and information through the various podcasts and audio messages available that serve to confirm that listening is still essential in human communication.”
In our world of so many divisions and conflicts humanity is crying out for peace and unity. We see divisions among nations, divisions within the Church, conflicts within families bringing about marriage breakdowns, isolation of individuals leading to fear, loneliness and depression. Such struggles have been part of the human family since the beginning, but perhaps we can see these tensions now reaching a climax. We are losing the ability to listen – both to God and to one another. Recall the command of the Father at the transfiguration of Jesus: “This is my Beloved Son. Listen to Him.” We can only build true unity if we do this, because Jesus is our primary and ultimate source of unity. If we cannot listen to Him, then we will not be able to listen to one another either in any profound sense, which is what we are called to do.
Often in tragic circumstances the seeds of the Gospel are re-sown. In 1943, in the northern Italian city of Trent, in the midst of war and the destruction of the city by bombs, a group of young girls came together and decided to put Gospel precepts into action in their lives. For example, they read: “If you bring your gift to the altar and there recall that your brother has anything against you, leave your gift at the altar, go first to be reconciled with your brother, and then come and offer your gift.” Love had come before all else – before going to school or work or going to sleep at night. A movement grew up around these young girls in war-time Trent, led by one Chiara Lubich. They called their movement ‘Focolare’, an Italian word meaning ‘Hearth’ – as in a fireside hearth where families would gather together around the fire in an evening. From Trent, Focolare spread throughout Italy and the world. A principle Gospel text for them is the one we have today: ‘Father, that they all may be one’. When they formed together in bonds of love, there of course was Jesus in their midst. By being spiritually present to them in this way, Jesus enabled them achieve the unity He prays for today. Unity is a principle goal of Focolare, not just unity amongst themselves, but unity among all Christians, extending to non-Catholics, to non-Christians and even to atheists. This is the will of God, unity – unity of the entire human race. Seeking to do the will of God in their lives – this is what these young girls endeavoured to do each day and thus to spread the bonds of unity to all.
One text that inspired them in particular came from the ‘Treatise on the Love of God’ by St Francis de Sales. He wrote: One who loves God is so completely transformed into the Will of God that he can be called by that name: ‘Will of God’. The saint continued with his gloss on Is. 62:4 (which reads ‘you shall be called ‘my delight is in her’) “That is why the Lord says in Isaiah that He will call the Christian Church by a new name which He will inscribe on the hearts of the faithful … and this name will be ‘My Will in her’.” The most noble title Christians can have is: ‘The Will of God in them. And where the Will of God is in a soul, in that soul dwells the Father, the Son and Holy Spirit – the Blessed Trinity living and acting in that soul. This should be the goal of every Christian, of every person. In the concrete circumstances of our daily lives, whether in the home, the work place, the monastery, the football field, alone, in company with others – anywhere at all – we are called to be this ‘My Will in them’. You could call this a definition of the Church, for the true Church is One.
Mary’s role as bond member of the Church is to bring all her children – the entire human race – into this oneness. All are called to this. She can do this because she is pre-eminently ‘My Will in her’. She can magnify the Lord, magnify Unity, because she is this ‘My Will in her’. And so again and again we turn to her in order to imitate her life and thus participate more and more in ‘My Will in them’. Only then can we really listen to one another, hear one another, listen to God and build the Church up in love and unity and peace.
Mes petits enfants, écoutons-nous les uns les autres. Aimons-nous les uns les autres. C’est le commandemant du notre Seigneur Jesus.
Dom Brian Gerard Kelly