HOMILY FOR TUESDAY OF 6TH WEEK OF EASTER. (2)

HOMILY FOR TUESDAY OF 6TH WEEK OF EASTER.

THEME: Unless I go, the Advocate will not come to you.

BY: FR. DEOTACIOUS CHIKONTWE SMA.

*READINGS OF THE DAY*
Acts 16:22-34
Psalm 137:1-3,7-8
John 16:5-11

*LITURGICAL COLOUR*
WHITE

*FROM OUR FIRST READING*
At the beginning of today’s first reading, we find Paul and Silas singing God’s praises even though they had been beaten and thrown into prison. None of us would find it easy to sing God’s praises in such circumstances. It is more likely that a desperate prayer for help would come to our lips rather than a prayer of praise to God. Paul’s prayer of praise in prison was a powerful witness to his conviction that God was stronger than the forces that had imprisoned himself and Silas. If God had raised Jesus from the dead, God could rescue Paul from this seemingly hopeless situation. Indeed, at the end of the reading, Paul’s jailer and his family respond to Paul’s preaching of the gospel and are baptized.

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*FROM OUR GOSPEL READING*
In today’s Gospel reading, Jesus is speaking in a critical moment for himself and his disciples. It is the evening of the last supper, and the disciples are ‘sad at heart’ because they sense that they are losing Jesus. He is going from them and will not return. However, whereas Jesus does not deny the reality of their loss, he tries to show them that something worthwhile is coming out of this loss that wouldn’t otherwise happen. He says to them, ‘it is for your own good that I am going because unless I go, the Advocate will not come to you’. Jesus’ departure to his heavenly Father will make possible the sending of the Holy Spirit who will make Jesus present in a new and more wonderful way, not just to these disciples, but to disciples of every generation.

*CONCLUSION*
Jesus is assuring his disciples that great good will come out of the tragedy that is unfolding. That is the perspective we need to have on what is unfolding around us today. There is great tragedy in what is happening, and, yet, we can be confident that the risen Lord is working to bring some good out of this affliction. In today’s first reading, the affliction of Paul’s imprisonment led to the baptism of the jailer and his family. The Lord can work powerfully in situations where we feel powerless and helpless, if we give him the space to do so.
Come Holy Spirit Come.

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