Scripture: 1st: Acts 15:1-2, 22-29
2nd: Rev 21: 10-14, 22-23
Gospel: John 14: 23-29
What a beautiful sight it was as I stood on the beach in Mukilteo watching the sunset over Whidbey Island some 40 years ago. I wondered how beautiful it would be if I was actually on the Island, being right there where I saw the sun set.
I was imagining how beautiful a sunset would be if I was on the Island yet being blind to the beauty that was in front of me; that beautiful sunset that caused me to wonder in the first place.
Have any of you ever heard anyone say how desolate, barren and empty the dessert is? Have any of you also heard anyone say to you how beautiful it is as the sunset turns the gray sand crystals into chrisoms of color and the sky as it turns into an indescribable yet beautiful color of red, pink, and orange?
I remember as a young boy looking upward seeing the big dipper dance across
the night sky and a few years later seeing that same dance looking upward into the night skies of Japan and Vietnam. Yes, God’s beauty, his creation is massive AND HE HAS GIVEN ALL THIS TO US OUT OF LOVE.
God’s love is found everywhere. All we have to do is open our hearts as we open our eyes. Where God’s house abounds, so does his love. That is why God has offered to make his house in us. When we open our heart’s we open the door for God’s gift of his son Jesus Christ, which is the perfect manifestation of God’s love.
Christ came into the world because he loved the world. Christ taught his people and performed miracles because he loved them. He willingly laid down his life on the cross out of his love for poor sinners, yes, you and me!
In his love for his Church, he gave us the wonderful gift of the Most Holy Eucharist and all the other Sacraments so that God’s love might live in our hearts. And now, he promises us another gift of love: the Spirit of love, sent from the Father and the Son to intercede for us, to teach us, and to fill us with God’s Peace.
Six of our children received their First Holy Communion last night. Their journey of faith started by opening their hearts to God, accepting the gift of his Son, Jesus Christ, to be with them as they grow in faith and love, and what love it is. No other love can compare to the love given us by God, his only son.
In today’s gospel when Jesus says: “whoever loves me will keep my word”, he is describing the best possible way of revealing himself to the world. Our loving obedience to the word of Christ and the love of God dwelling within us is the most perfect manifestation of Christ to those who do not believe. But not only is love the best way of revealing God, it is the ONLY way. Christ Jesus and his power to save cannot be known apart from love.
Our Gospel for the 6th Sunday of Easter invites us to wrestle with the mystery equally as mesmerizing to the eyes of faith as it is to the beauty of God’s creation. At the Last Supper, Jesus, as the Good Shepherd preparing the leaders of his flock, says to the Apostles: “Whoever loves me will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our dwelling with him”.
What a powerful statement. The same almighty God who fashioned the heavens and the earth, the same Father who gave us the beautiful sunsets, the big dipper, the same Father also chose to love each of us personally making a dwelling place in our hearts.
This is the mystery of the indwelling of the Holy Spirit, the gift of Pentecost, which the Church will celebrate in two weeks, and the result of Baptism and Confirmation. The greatness and majesty of God, seen so obvious in creation, is un-equaled by His promise to enter into a personal union with you and me.
When we, by God’s grace, come to understand and accept this truth of our faith, our lives are transformed. We receive many gifts from the Father. Among them is the gift of peace. It is no coincidence that Jesus says, one verse later in John’s gospel: “Peace I leave with you, my peace I give you. Not as the world gives do I give it to you.”
With God not just by our side but making a home in us, we know deep within our hearts that we are loved, freeing us to love others. God enters into the world of each of us, and cares with the tender concern of a Father and that we need not fear.
God gives a peace that the world does not give. It is a precious gift and one that follows the ultimate gift of His son, Jesus Christ in the Eucharist.
We know we are loved and how better to experience love in this earthly life than to experience the love of our mothers. This weekend we remember and honor our mothers. We remember that nurturing, the bandages strategically place on the elbow and forearm.
We remember mother, who gives her love unconditionally as only a mother can and we remember mother who showed us compassion and understanding when we were in times of pain and confusion.
We know what the love of a mother feels like. But we can also know what it feels like to be loved by God. How? By opening our hearts as we open our eyes.
As I was finishing my thoughts for this homily, a windstorm came through. I sat on the edge of the bed and looking out, fearful of what might happen with the big fur trees around me might do, I opened my heart as I opened my eyes and saw the mighty power of God, the splendor of something you cannot see but you know is there by how everything moves in it.
The wind was covering the yard with fir bows, the power flickered and went off. Even in the strength and damage this wind storm did our even could have done, God was there and always is, so close that it is hard to imagine. His presence gives strength to face this storm and every storm in life. His love is amazing and his peace is irreplaceable. “Do not let your hearts be troubled or afraid.”
I gazed at the beauty of that sunset on the beach so long ago, but now I see that beauty wherever I am standing and wherever I go for he lives in me and you. We are God’s creation. We are his expression of love. How beautiful we are.