Homily For Seventh Sunday of Easter, Year A, 21st May, 2023

Readings: Acts 1:12-14; Ps.27; 1 Pet. 4:13-16;  John 17:1-11

Rev. Fr. Emmanuel Emenike  Onyia.

 

A CALL TO WAIT PRAYERFULLY FOR THE COMING OF THE HOLY SPIRIT

 

One of the difficult things we don’t like to hear when we are expecting something great to come our way is the word “wait”. The word wait can be very unpleasant to the ears of anyone who is desperately in need of something. Often times, we have little or no option not to wait, and in life we have a lot of waiting to do.

 

We wait for the day to break, we wait for the month to end, we wait for the traffic, we wait for our admission, interviews, jobs, husband, wife, children, we wait and wait and wait. In fact, waiting on God is a regular message of faith which we hear everyday. Waiting can really be difficult and uncomfortable, it can be suicidal for those who lack the virtue of patience.

 

However, good and great things are worth waiting for, just like the disciples who today are called to wait prayerfully for the coming of the Holy Spirit, the  promised Paraclete. For we read from the scriptures how the world pass through centuries of waiting for the Messiah, thinking that the waiting would be over once Jesus had come, but  the waiting have to continue till the coming of the promised Paraclete and even to the return of our Lord Jesus in his glory. Hence, today the Church waits prayerfully for the promised Paraclete.

 

Little wonder today, the seventh Sunday of the season of Easter, after the Solemnity of the Ascension last Thursday, we heard how the disciples went to the upper room waiting prayerfully for the promised Paraclete, as we have it in our first reading, “and when they reached the city they went to the upper room where they were staying... All these joined in continuous prayer, together with several women, including Mary the mother of Jesus, and with his brethren.”

 

In our second reading, we heard St. Peter encouraging the faithful people of God to remain steadfast in their faith amidst the persecution and challenges that they are facing. He said to them: “If you can have some share in the sufferings of Christ, be glad, because you will enjoy a much greater gladness when his glory is revealed. He said, it is a blessing for you when they insult you for bearing the name of Christ, because it means that you have the Spirit of glory, the Spirit of God resting on you.”

 

This means that they have to learn how to wait patiently and remain strong in their struggle and sufferings for the glory of the Lord. While in the Gospel passage, we heard how Jesus knowing what the disciples are going to pass through on account of waiting and struggling with the faith they have found in him, prayed dearly for them and commit them to God His Father.

 

This prayer is called the High Priestly Prayer of Jesus, because in it Jesus consecrates himself to the sacrificial death which he offers to the Father for the salvation of humanity. Here Jesus prayed for his disciples that the Father should take care of them in the midst of the evils in the world, that they should be one as he and the Father are one.

 

In this prayer, Jesus shows us that prayer is a form of communication between us and God, Whom we should love dearly and wait patiently for His will to be done in our lives. This simply means, that we have to learn how to communicate regularly with God and wait patiently for His will to be done. And in like manner, we must learn how to wait patiently with our loved ones, our friends, our family members and relatives, our spouses and others who are dear to us. We must learn how to wait patiently with life activities and the challenges and struggles that comes with it.

 

Dear friends, today the disciples are waiting prayerfully at the upper room for the promised Paraclete. We too are also called to prepare ourselves for the coming of the Holy Spirit this coming Pentecost Sunday, we are called to go to the upper room of our hearts and conscience and wait patiently for the out pouring of the Holy Spirit.

 

We are called to prepare and wait on the Holy Spirit through the ongoing novena to the Holy Spirit. We are called to wait patiently for the fulfillment of God’s plan for each and every one of us. We are called to wait for God's time to come. We are called to learn how to wait for one another. We must learn to wait patiently for things to get matured before we use them.

 

Though waiting may be difficult, but good and great things are worth waiting and prepared for. But what are you really waiting for in this life? How prepared and ready are you for that which you are waiting for in this life? How is my way of life showing that I am waiting for the Holy Spirit? If the Holy Spirit comes today will he find a dwelling place in my life, that is filled with bitterness, anger, corruption,  unforgiveness and immoral thoughts and actions? As we are waiting, let us prepare our hearts for the Holy Spirit to dwell whenever he comes.

 

LET US PRAY: Graciously hear our supplications, O Lord, as we wait patiently for the fulfillment of your promise, grant that when the Paraclete comes, may we be disposed to receive him as our Advocate and let him teach us what to do, how to do it, when to do it and give us the grace to do it properly through Christ our Lord. Amen.  Do have a grace-filled Sunday.