Homily For Seventh Sunday in Easter Year B, 12th May, 2024. End of World Communication Week

 

Readings: Acts.1:15-17.20-26; Ps.103; 1 John 4:11-16;  John 17:11-19

Fr. Emmanuel Emenike  Onyia.

 

WAITING ON THE HOLY SPIRIT THE PROMISED  PARACLETE

 

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. But oftentimes, 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 every day. Waiting can really be difficult and uncomfortable, it can be suicidal for those who lack the virtue of patience. Nonetheless, good and great things are worth waiting for.

 

Today the seventh Sunday of the Holy season of Easter, our disposition is that of waiting. This is because before this Sunday was the Solemnity of the Ascension which we celebrated on Thursday, from which the Church waits prayerfully for the promised Paraclete. So the Church in this waiting disposition anticipates the promised Paraclete who will help her to communicate the message of Christ to all humanity.

 

 This act of communication is very important as the Church celebrates World Communication Sunday today which was established by Pope Paul VI in 1967 as an annual celebration and as we know communication is a very important aspect of our faith and mission.

 

Little wonder, Jesus knowing how difficult this mission can be for his disciples asked them to wait for the promised Paraclete and he also prayed for them as we have it in our Gospel passage today when he said: Holy Father, keep those you have given me true to your name, so that they may be one like us. They do not belong to the world any more than I belong to the world. Consecrate them in the truth; your word is truth. As you sent me into the world I have sent them into the world, and for their sake, I consecrate myself so that they too may be consecrated in truth.

 

This prayer is so important in our lives as Christians. It is called the High Priestly prayer of Jesus. Here we heard the Lord Jesus asking the Father to sanctify his disciples in truth and oneness knowing the importance of sanctity, truth and oneness in achieving their mission and goal. We can see the efficacy of this prayer of Jesus in the election of Matthias to the rank of the Twelve Apostles as we have it in our first reading, which can be seen as an example of how communication in prayer is such an important aspect and part of our faith.

 

We cannot be true Christians unless we open ourselves to the Lord and communicate with him regularly in order to know his will for us and others and by so doing dwell in his love. Hence, we heard St John in our second reading saying: My dear people, since God has loved us so much, we too should love one another. No one has ever seen God, but as long as we love one another God will live in us and his love will be complete in us.

 

Also, in this High Priestly Prayer, Jesus prayed for his disciples that the Father should take care of them in the midst of all the evils in the world and 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 come with it.

 

Dear friends, as the disciples are waiting prayerfully 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 outpouring 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 fulfilment of God’s plan for every one of us just like Matthias. Though waiting may be difficult, but good and great things are worth waiting for and being prepared for.

 

LET US PRAY: Lord God, graciously hear our supplications,  as we wait patiently for the fulfilment 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.