5 th. Sunday of EASTER (Year A) (May 7, 2023): Acts 6:1-7, 1Pt 2:4-9, Jn 14:1-12.
"If you believe in me, you will do the work I do."
Introduction: Today’s readings tell us how the early Church accepted the challenge of keeping Jesus’ memory alive in the Christian community by fashioning it into a serving and worshipping community (Acts 6:1-7), allowing God to make of them ”living stones” and build them into a “spiritual house”, to be a “holy priesthood” to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ,” with Jesus Christ as the “Living Cornerstone.” (I Pt 2:4-5), thus becoming the Father’s House (John 14:1-12).
Life Message: Linking the first two readings to each other and to the Gospel, the Refrain of today’s Responsorial Psalm (Ps 33) has us sing “Lord, let Your Mercy be on us, as we place our trust in You,” because His Divine Mercy is the Source and binding power of our unity in Him here and hereafter. Thus, today’s Gospel gives us the image of the Church as a Church in glory in the Father’s House. It also reminds us of the great truth that Jesus is the Way to God, that Jesus is the Truth of God, and that Jesus is Life of God, through Whom we receive God’s own Life. Consequently, today’s readings demand from us real Faith not only in God the Father but also in Jesus precisely because he is “the Way, the Truth, and the Life” (Jn. 14:6), and he instructs us, “You have faith in God; have faith also in Me” (Jn. 14:1).
Conclusion: Jesus says, "If you believe in me, you will do the work I do." This is the work he's talking about: creating safe, secure, happy places for one another in which the really important work of life -- transformation and big-family building -- can happen. We can help one another “get a life” in the same way Jesus did: by receiving frequently his Body and Blood (Holy Communion) -Spiritual Food for the journey; by recognizing the powerful effect we have on one another, for good or ill; and by consciously deciding to make even our smallest choices add up to safe, secure, happy spaces where every member of our big Parish family can grow whole. Let me, therefore, end with a quote from Thomas a Kempis in his famous book, ‘The Imitation of Christ’: "Without the Way, there is no going. Without the Truth, there is no knowing. Without Life, there is no living."
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