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May 29th, 2022 Bulletin & News

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7th Sunday of Easter: John 24:46-53

When people see me, do they see Jesus? When people see me, do they want to know Jesus? When people see me, do they want to join our community, share our life, and take the Gospel as the foundation of their life? That is the meaning of the Ascension.

Jesus tells the disciples that every time they share their love with a brother or sister, they are making Jesus present to that person. For us too, every time we love and serve others, it is the presence of Jesus. We are to be Jesus in this world. We are to be the visible presence of Jesus. It is really a great challenge and a rather scary responsibility.

We are invited to enter in to the situation in which the early Christians found themselves. The ‘old’ Jesus whom they knew and loved and yet Jesus is in some way changed, he is ‘new”? How am I in my relating to this Jesus as the Spirit? Do I have a sense of his ‘living’ in me, in others and in our world? Do I have an image that catches this reality for me? Energy? Love? Life? Whatever image helps me to open my heart to God’s presence now.

Jesus connects what has happened to him to the Old Testament prophecies. Thus, hundreds of years on, God’s promise is fulfilled. God’s time is not our time. The disciples experienced ‘great joy’ when Jesus blessed them and moved fully into the divine dimension of reality – heaven. Such moments of insight and pure joy are rare but precious for us. While they eventually become dim, their memory can carry us through difficult times. Can I identify one such moment of ‘great joy’?

Even as he leaves the disciples and sends them as witnesses Jesus reminds them that he had to suffer, die and rise. As I face the world into which Jesus sends me I acknowledge that the marks of his suffering will identify me as his disciple.

Jesus promises that his disciples will be clothed with power from on high. I think of those gifts of the Spirit that are necessary for me in my life. I pray for them and prepare to receive them.

Even as he leaves the disciples and sends them as witnesses Jesus reminds them that he had to suffer, die and rise. As I face the world into which Jesus sends me I acknowledge that the marks of his suffering will identify me as his disciple.

I stay before Jesus who lifts his hands in blessing over me. I accept his trust in me as he sends me in his name. Jesus promises that his disciples will be clothed with power from on high. I think of those gifts of the Spirit that are necessary for me in my life. I pray for them and prepare to receive them.

San Pedro Comms

Author San Pedro Comms

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