Sunday, June 5, 2011
Acts of the Apostles 1:12-14 1 Peter 4:13-16 John 17:1-11a
This 7th week of Easter marks the last week in Eastertime. It is followed by Ascension Thursday when Jesus goes back home to His Father with the promise that He will not leave us orphaned. Before ascending into heaven, Jesus promised over and over again to be with us always, even to the end of time. He also promised to send us the Paraclete – the Holy Spirit on Pentecost.
The readings this week set the scene with Jesus’ disciples gathered in the “upper room” along with Mary the Mother of Jesus and other devoted men and women. I can just imagine some of their conversations. “Remember when Jesus multiplied the loaves and fishes and fed the multitude how much food we had left over? It was incredible.” “Remember how Jesus cried when His friend Lazarus died and how He raised him from the dead?” Peter recounted how he felt when he walked on water at Jesus’ invitation and then began sinking when he started doubting and thinking he was doing this on his own power. And, oh yes, Peter reiterated his shame and his remorse for having denied Jesus three times before the cock crowed that fatal day. Mary, Jesus’ mother, spoke of her great joy at her son’s birth – her confusion when at the age of 12 Jesus stayed behind in the temple and she and Joseph were so very worried, and finally she shared her deep, deep sorrow as she followed Jesus to Calvary where she watched her son suffer and die.
“Remember the Last Supper? Remember Jesus’ agony in the Garden? Remember when Jesus ascended to Heaven right before our eyes?” Each memory seemed more vivid than the next, and with each memory were not their hearts burning with love!
Hopefully everyone has found their own “upper room” – this sacred place within, where one retreats to meet the Lord and to remember and savor the very personal and unconditional love God has for you. Remember and give thanks for God’s special blessings – health, family, friends – to name but a few. Give thanks to God for sustaining you on the personal journey God has chosen for you and, with each memory, “may your heart also burn with love.”
This Sunday’s gospel recalls Jesus’ prayer to His Father for His disciples, and in it Jesus says, “I have shown your glory on earth; I have finished the work you gave me to do.” I immediately thought of St. Marguerite d’Youville and how she could easily have prayed these same words. Jesus passed on His mission to His disciples and St. Marguerite, in turn, passed on her mission to us. We are to feed the hungry, heal the sick, comfort the dying, take in the homeless and the orphans, and care for the elderly. Doesn’t that sound like what we do here everyday? I see it played out all the time as I roam the halls. I hear it over and over again from the patients and visitors how caring and compassionate everyone is. Whatever part each one plays in this whole organization, let us remember to do what we do with love so that at the end of each day we may say like Jesus, “I have finished the work you gave me to do today”.
Sr. Madeleine Normand
Chaplain
