Easter 6C Spirit Communion

Sixth Sunday of Easter May 25, 2014 – Christ With Us In The Eucharist
Acts 8:5-8; 14-17; 1 Pt 3:15-18; John 14:15-21 Cthe K, 11:30 & 1:30 Spanish
Acts 8:5-8, 14-17 Philip went down to the city of Samaria and proclaimed the Christ to them. With one accord,
the crowds paid attention to what was said by Philip when they heard it and saw the signs he was doing. For
unclean spirits, crying out in a loud voice, came out of many possessed people, and many paralyzed or crippled
people were cured. There was great joy in that city. Now when the apostles in Jerusalem heard that Samaria had
accepted the word of God, they sent them Peter and John, who went down and prayed for them, that they might
receive the Holy Spirit, for it had not yet fallen upon any of them; they had only been baptized in the name of
the Lord Jesus. Then they laid hands on them and they received the Holy Spirit.
1 Pt 3:15-18. Beloved: Sanctify Christ as Lord in your hearts. Always be ready to give an explanation to anyone
who asks you for a reason for your hope, but do it with gentleness and reverence, keeping your conscience clear,
so that, when you are maligned, those who defame your good conduct in Christ may themselves be put to
shame. For it is better to suffer for doing good, if that be the will of God, than for doing evil. For Christ also
suffered for sins once, the righteous for the sake of the unrighteous, that he might lead you to God. Put to death
in the flesh, he was brought to life in the Spirit.
Gospel John 14:15-21. Jesus said to his disciples: "If you love me, you will keep my commandments. And I will
ask the Father, and he will give you another Advocate to be with you always, the Spirit of truth, whom the world
cannot accept, because it neither sees nor knows him. But you know him, because he remains with you, and will
be in you. I will not leave you orphans; I will come to you. In a little while the world will no longer see me, but
you will see me, because I live and you will live. On that day you will realize that I am in my Father and you are
in me and I in you. Whoever has my commandments and observes them is the one who loves me. And whoever
loves me will be loved by my Father, and I will love him and reveal myself to him."
Lectionary for Mass for Use in the Dioceses of the United States, second typical edition, Copyright © 2001, 1998, 1997, 1986, 1970 Confraternity of Christian
Doctrine; Psalm refrain © 1968, 1981, 1997, International Committee on English in the Liturgy, Inc. All rights reserved. Neither this work nor any part of it may be
reproduced, distributed, performed or displayed in any medium, including electronic or digital, without permission in writing from the copyright owner.
The many symbols at Mass today – the Paschal Candle, the Memorial Candle, the
baptismal water sprinkled upon us, the bread and the wine -- speak to us through our
senses and I want to provide one image that I hope will be helpful. And I want it to be
something we all remember, whether we're one of the children receiving First Holy
Communion, or whether we're parents, grandparents, or parishioners of Saint Mark.
The image is this: There are two kinds of space voyages. One is when a
spacecraft is launched into space - there are no astronauts aboard, and it’s designed
never to come back. About 35 years ago, Voyager I and Voyager II1 were launched, and
they traveled farther than any spacecraft has ever gone, to our most distant planets, and
now beyond the solar system . . . and they're still going. They’ll never return. They send
data from a distance, but they're going, going, gone. They’ll never come back.
The other kind of space voyage is one we're more familiar with - a spacecraft
that’s launched into space, and later returns to earth. We sent astronauts to the moon,
and they came back. We still send astronauts to the space station, and they come back.
Sometimes our image of Jesus dying, rising and ascending to heaven is more like
that first kind of space voyage, the kind that never returns. Jesus dies, rises, and ascends
to the right hand of the Father, and never returns. He sends occasional signals . . . from
a distance.
1
Launched Aug & Sep 1977
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Sixth Sunday of Easter May 25, 2014 – Christ With Us In The Eucharist
Acts 8:5-8; 14-17; 1 Pt 3:15-18; John 14:15-21 Cthe K, 11:30 & 1:30 Spanish
But we just heard Jesus say in the Gospel, if you love me, you will keep my
commandments. And then he tells us that he will not leave us orphans: I will come to
you. When we think of Christ’s Paschal Mystery, we have to think of the "whole circle"
and not just of Christ rising from the dead and ascending into heaven. We need to
remember that he promised to be with us and in us; the Advocate will be with you
always. We have to complete the circle. He did come back, to stay. He did it for the
early members of the Church at Pentecost when he poured his Spirit upon them. He
does it to us at Baptism and in the Sacraments of the Church. Jesus, through his Spirit is
with us. We can't see him, but we can't see radio waves either, even though they're in the
air all around us.
But there's more. Jesus invites us to join him in that circle; in his going to the
Father in Heaven and still living here on earth. That’s exactly what we do at Eucharist.
When the gifts of bread and wine are placed on the altar, they represent us. And in the
Eucharistic prayer, Christ is made present to us. We join with him in going to God . . .
in giving ourselves entirely to God. In one of the Eucharistic prayers we say: Accept us
together with your Beloved Son. Jesus takes us with him and we continue here on earth
as new people, transformed . . . living a different kind of life.
But there's more. Jesus gives himself to us as food for the journey. In Holy
Communion we receive the Lord himself; body, blood, soul, and divinity. In one sense
it’s a fuller presence because we can see it. We take him in our hand, we hold him in the
cup, and we become part of the Body of Christ.
For some, it may be hard to believe but these beliefs don't come out of thin air.
They come from the lips of Jesus. He said, I am going away and I will come back to you
. . . and I will send the Spirit . . . and the Father and I will make our dwelling with you.
He said, Take and eat . . . this is my body. Take and drink . . . this is the cup of my blood.
These truths aren’t complicated, nor are they all that hard to believe. It's just that
they're hard to remember;
 to remember what we're doing when the gifts of bread and wine are brought forward,
 to remember what we're doing in the Eucharistic prayer,
 to remember what we're doing when we come forward for Communion,
 to remember who it is that we hold in our hand when we take the bread and take the
cup.
 And it's even harder to remember all this when we leave church after Mass.
I pray that our children will never forget this day.
Most of all I pray that they will never forget what they do at every Eucharist, and never
forget the Lord's presence within them every second of every day of their lives.
And I pray that you and I will do the same.
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Sixth Sunday of Easter May 25, 2014 – Christ With Us In The Eucharist
Acts 8:5-8; 14-17; 1 Pt 3:15-18; John 14:15-21 Cthe K, 11:30 & 1:30 Spanish
Spanish Translation
Los muchos símbolos de la Misa de hoy - el Cirio Pascual, el vela memorial, el
agua bautismal rociada sobre nosotros, el pan y el vino - nos hablan a través de nuestros
sentidos y quiero ofrecer una imagen que espero sea útil en nuestra jornada espiritual. Y
yo quiero habla sobre una idea importante a todo nosotros.
La imagen es la siguiente: Hay dos tipos de viajes espaciales. Uno de ellos es
cuando una nave espacial se lanza al espacio - no hay astronautas y está diseñado para
nunca volver. Hace aproximadamente 35 años, la Voyager I y Voyager II se puso en
marcha, y viajaron más lejos que cualquier nave espacial se ha ido, y ahora más allá del
sistema solar. . . y todavía están en marcha. Los dos nunca volverán. Ellos envían datos
desde la distancia, pero ninguna va a volver.
El otro tipo de viaje espacial es uno que estamos más familiarizados - una nave
espacial que ha lanzado al espacio, y luego regrese a la tierra. Enviamos a los
astronautas a la Luna, y volvimos. Todavía enviar astronautas a la estación espacial, y
después unos meses, volvemos.
A veces nuestra imagen de Jesús crucificado, resucitado y ascendido al cielo
parecida como la primera clase de viaje espacial, de esos que nunca regresa. Jesús
muere, se levanta, y asciende del Padre, y nunca regresa. Él envía señales ocasionales. . .
desde una distancia.
Pero acabamos de oír a Jesús decir en el Evangelio, si me aman, cumplirán mis
mandamientos. Y luego nos dice que no los dejaré desamparados, sino que volveré a
ustedes. Cuando pensamos en el Misterio Pascual de Cristo, tenemos que pensar en el
"todo círculo" y no sólo de Cristo que se resucitada de entre los muertos y ya esta en el
cielo.
Tenemos que recordar que él prometió que él les enviará otro Consolador que
esté siempre con ustedes, el Espíritu de verdad. Tenemos que completar el círculo. Él
regresó, para quedarse siempre con nosotros. Lo hizo por los primeros miembros de la
Iglesia en Pentecostés cuando él derramó su Espíritu sobre ellos. Lo hace para nosotros
en el Bautismo y en los sacramentos de la Iglesia. Jesús, por su Espíritu está con
nosotros. Nosotros no lo podemos ver, tampoco no podemos ver las ondas de radio o
bien, a pesar de que están en el aire a nuestro alrededor.
Pero hay más. Jesús nos invita a unirse a él en ese círculo; en su ascensión al
Padre en el Cielo y que aún viven aquí en la tierra. Eso es exactamente lo que hacemos
en la Eucaristía. Cuando los dones del pan y el vino se colocan en el altar, estos dones
nos representan. Y en la oración eucarística, Cristo se hace presente para nosotros. En
una de las oraciones eucarísticas decimos: Acéptanos junto con tu Hijo Amado. Jesús
nos lleva con él y seguimos aquí en la tierra como gente nueva, transformada. . .
viviendo una vida diferente.
Pero hay más. Jesús se nos da como alimento para el viaje. En la Sagrada
Comunión que recibimos el mismo Señor; cuerpo, sangre, alma y divinidad. En cierto
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Sixth Sunday of Easter May 25, 2014 – Christ With Us In The Eucharist
Acts 8:5-8; 14-17; 1 Pt 3:15-18; John 14:15-21 Cthe K, 11:30 & 1:30 Spanish
sentido, se trata de una presencia más completa, ya que podemos ver. Lo llevamos en
nuestras manos, nosotros lo tenemos en la copa, y nos convertimos en parte del Cuerpo
de Cristo.
Para algunos, puede ser difícil de creer, pero estas creencias no vienen de la nada.
Vienen de los labios de Jesús. Él dijo: Yo me voy, y vendré de nuevo a usted . . . y
enviaré el Espíritu . . . y el Padre y yo haremos morada en ti. Él dijo: Tomad y comed .
. . esto es mi cuerpo . Tomad y bebed . . . éste es el cáliz de mi sangre .
Estas verdades no son complicadas, ni son tan difíciles de creer.
Es que son difíciles de recordar;
 recordar lo que estamos haciendo cuando los dones del pan y el vino son llevados
hacia al altar,
 recordar lo que estamos haciendo en la plegaria eucarística ,
 recordar lo que hacemos cuando venimos a seguir para recibir Sagrada
Comunión,
 recordar quién es el que tenemos en nuestras manos cuando tomamos el pan y
tomamos la copa.
 Y es aún más difícil de recordar todo esto cuando salimos de la iglesia después de
la misa.
Yo rezo que nuestros hijos que recibirán Sagrada Comunión por primera
vez nunca olvidarán este día.
Mi deseo es que nunca olvidarán lo que hacen en cada Eucaristía, y nunca olvidar
la presencia del Señor dentro de nosotros cada segundo de cada día en nuestras vidas.
Y yo deseo que tú y yo haré lo mismo.
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