Homily Fourth Sunday of Easter Year C Filled with joy and the Holy Spirit
Homily:
Fourth Sunday of Easter Year C
Reading
1: “They were filled with joy and the Holy Spirit.” Why? They just got
themselves thrown out of town. They have experienced persecution and rejection.
They experienced violent abuse. How can they still be filled with joy and the
Holy Spirit? What was the source—besides the Holy Spirit—of this joy? The
message they preached, they believed and lived. But more, the person of Jesus
Christ.
They
were convicted of the Father’s love for them and the power and anointing of the
Holy Spirit. They were committed
disciples of the Lord Jesus Christ. They were doing what God told them to do. Their
focus was not the persecutions or rejections, but on doing the will of God who
chose them and sent them.
Are
we filled with joy and the Holy Spirit right now? During this past week? Is it
possible that our focus has not been on our relationship with God, on doing the
will of God consciously? Is it possible that we allowed ourselves to be so
caught up with just getting through the day but forgot about the real purpose
of our existence?
God
was the center of their lives. Like Jesus, his will was their food. Does God
want us to be filled with joy and the Holy Spirit? What needs to change and be
done?
Reading
2: Who are these before the throne of God? Men and women from every place, time
and culture, who in their life-time were filled with an inner joy and peace and
the Holy Spirit. They survived the great period of trials and persecutions for
their faith was in Jesus Christ. They kept their eyes on the Lord and his promises.
They made choices that would bring them in right order with the will of God for
them. They entrusted themselves to the Lord and longed for the joy of being in
the Lord’s presence forever.
Were
they any different from you or me? They were born, lived and died. They
struggled, suffered, sinned. But the reason they are now at peace is that they
came to the truth that set them free, the light that dispel the darkness, the
path that leads to eternal life. They experienced Jesus and his saving message.
They believed and embraced him and it. Everything from that point was measured
against this relationship and reality.
Gospel:
Do we want to be filled with joy and the Holy Spirit? Then follow the Lord
Jesus, our Shepherd. Listen and be attentive to his voice in the silence of our
hearts. Make him the reason why we do or not do something.
We
have been given to Jesus by the Father. Nothing can snatch us from his hand.
But I can choose not to follow him, listen to him. I can choose to leave him
and focus on something else. But if I remain with and in him, then he promises
eternal life with him.
This
was the same message Paul and Barnabas preached, the same message those who
washed their robes in the blood of the Lamb heard and acted on. It is the same
message we hear. Do we want to be filled with joy and the Holy Spirit? The plan
is clear. All we have to do is act on it. True, it is not easy. But we have the
lives and witness of the countless number of people who are celebrating with
God in eternity. They are interceding for us before the throne of God.
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