Memorial of St. Charles Lwanga & Companions, Martyrs
As we approach the great feast of Pentecost, we are invited to continue to listen to Jesus’ “Priestly prayer,” those reflections and prayers he uttered for his disciples at that Seder Supper that became Holy Thursday.
He knows he is leaving them “in the world” while he is returning to the Father. The Acts of the Apostles reading gives us a clear image of the challenge of living “in the world” through the experiences of Paul. He too is saying farewell to the Ephesians, whom he senses he will not see again. He reflects on “the tears and trials” that came to him for bearing witness to Jesus and the challenge of not knowing what the future holds. Still, he prays that he may finish this work he has been entrusted with by Jesus, “to bear witness to the Gospel of God’s grace.” What will it mean for us each to finish the course set out for us, to hold on the hope that the One who is faithful, will be faithful to the end, despite the challenges the world presents? Today is the first anniversary of the death of Christian theologian Jurgen Moltmann who left us with a theology of hope that included a line that can help: “From first to last,…Christianity…is hope, forward looking and forward moving, and therefore also revolutionizing and transforming the present.” Whatever the world holds for us, let us trust that the gift of the Spirit will enable us to be faithful to the ministry of bearing “witness to the Gospel of God’s grace.”
—Sr. Laura M. Leming, FMI