Thursday of the Seventh Week of Easter
There are many times throughout the gospel that Jesus prays for unity. In today’s gospel, He asks the Father to help us be “brought to perfection as one.” As I look around at our country, our world and even our church, it seems like this “oneness” is a nearly impossible goal. And yet, Jesus lives in this perfect unity with the Father and Spirit and calls us to do the same. How can we begin to build this unity that Jesus calls us to attain?
When reading today’s first reading from the Acts of the Apostles, it is evident that division has been a part of our society for ages. St. Paul is being questioned by a group of Jews, and a large melee occurs as the Pharisees and Sadducees argue about details surrounding the resurrection of the dead. St. Paul has to be rescued from the crowd to avoid being torn to pieces.
In today’s Gospel reading, Jesus is asking His Father “that they may all be one, as you, Father, are in me, and I in You.” His prayer continues as Jesus mentions how the Father has loved us just as the Father has loved Jesus. And Jesus asks that this love will be in us just as Jesus will be in us. This perfect unity revolves around the love that is shared between the Father and the Son. And this Love is who we call the Holy Spirit. The Father, Son and the Spirit-the Trinity- is the perfection as one.
It is not difficult for me to recognize that the Trinity illustrates this unity that Jesus desires for us, but it is more challenging for me to imagine how we can become a part of that union. As Christian disciples, we realize that Jesus shows us the way. As with the Trinity, love is the beginning and the end towards that perfect oneness. Jesus shows us how we are called to love all people- even those who are different from us, who hate us, or those who we do not think deserve our love. I find this extremely challenging! How can I love someone who is cruel, immoral, and full of hate? I know this is not something I can do on my own. It is through the gift of the Spirit that I am able to step closer to loving those that I find so difficult to love. Each time we choose to allow the love of God to transform us and each situation we encounter, we inch just a little closer to the love of the Trinity and that Oneness that Jesus desires for us.
As we prepare for Pentecost this weekend, this is an ideal opportunity for us to open our hearts and minds to receive the fullness of the Spirit in our lives. Jesus tells us that if we ask, we will receive. “If you then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him?” (Lk 11: 13) If we desire the unity that Jesus offers (and I know I do!) then we must look to the Spirit to bring about the healing, compassion and love that our society, world and church so desperately need.
And so we pray:
Come, Holy Spirit, fill the hearts of your faithful
and kindle in them the fire of your love.
Send forth your Spirit and they shall be created,
and you shall renew the face of the earth. Amen
—Marylynn Herchline