5th Sunday of Easter (A)
(Jn 14:1-12)
t the Last Supper, when Jesus instituted the Eucharist, he spoke at length with his disciples about very deep and important things, which St. John’s Gospel records in chapters 13-17. This “Last Supper Discourse” helps to prepare the apostles for the great gift Jesus will give them, which is the Eucharist.
(Jn 14:1-12)
t the Last Supper, when Jesus instituted the Eucharist, he spoke at length with his disciples about very deep and important things, which St. John’s Gospel records in chapters 13-17. This “Last Supper Discourse” helps to prepare the apostles for the great gift Jesus will give them, which is the Eucharist.
In order to understand what Jesus wants to accomplish in us by means of the Eucharist, we have to listen to these words. And what Jesus speaks about more than ever, is the Holy Trinity. He talks to his 12 apostles about the relationship he shares with the Father.
Philip asked Jesus to show them the Father. Jesus says, “Whoever has seen me, has seen the Father!” This is because, “I am in the Father, and the Father is in me.”
I’m sure we often wonder what God is like? This one phrase from the Gospel explains something very deep about the mystery of who God is. God is one, there is one God. But God is a communion of Persons: 2 Persons, whom we call the Father and the Son. And these two persons completely dwell in each other. The Father is “in” the Son, and the Son is “in” the Father. And because they are “in” each other, the Father and Son are One. (Later Jesus will explain that in this oneness of the Father and the Son is a 3rd divine Person, the Holy Spirit, who is the love and union between Father and Son.)
What Jesus shares with the apostles at the Last Supper is a deep mystery, the mystery of God’s inner life. And we can only marvel at it, because there is no way we can really grasp the mutual indwelling of Father and Son; what it means for the Father to be “in” the Son at the same time that the Son is “in” the Father.
God made man in His divine image and likeness. In our human experience we have something similar to what Jesus speaks about. This is what happens when two people love each other. It’s a mystery how it happens, but we know from experience that when two people love each other, they become one together in their hearts and minds. Even though they are always two distinct people, somehow they become “one” together. They know what the other thinks, they know what the other feels; in fact they feel what the other feels. And by means of their love they are able to carry each other, enrich each other by their lives. And when separated, they feel it as grief.
Man is created in God’s image, and so we experience in a small way through human love this “mutual indwelling” that exists between Father and Son.
Man is created in God’s image, and so we experience in a small way through human love this “mutual indwelling” that exists between Father and Son.
But at the Last Supper Jesus has something very important to explain to the disciples. It is the teaching he has been holding to the very end, and now on the night before he will undergo his passion and death, he will share it with them. It is the Eucharist. It is the most important and special thing we have in the Church, the deepest part of our relationship with Jesus the Son.
Jesus explains that the disciples are going to be able to do even greater things than he did. Jesus performed his works because the Father was working in him and through him. But Jesus wants his followers to know that he will have with them, the same indwelling that he has with the Father. Just as he dwells in the Father and the Father dwells in him, Jesus will dwell in us and we in him.
Jesus explains that the disciples are going to be able to do even greater things than he did. Jesus performed his works because the Father was working in him and through him. But Jesus wants his followers to know that he will have with them, the same indwelling that he has with the Father. Just as he dwells in the Father and the Father dwells in him, Jesus will dwell in us and we in him.
This is even deeper than when two people love each other. Two people can share their lives and be one with each on a very deep level, but there is no way humanly that they can literally be in all aspects “in” each other. But Jesus says with him this will be possible. And this is what is accomplished by the gift of the Eucharist.
In the Eucharist, Jesus gives the way to be received into his followers so that he might dwell in them, not just physically of course, but spiritually. But nevertheless, also physically! When we receive Jesus in Holy Communion, we receive his risen flesh into our flesh, and his divine blood (Life) into our veins. We receive Jesus into our hearts as the divine guest. He dwells in us. Just as the communion hymn sings: “Savior, abide with us, and spread Thy table in our heart… Lord, sup with us in love divine…” This hymn sings of the heavenly wedding banquet that takes place in our heart, whenever we receive Holy Communion.
In the Eucharist, Jesus gives the way to be received into his followers so that he might dwell in them, not just physically of course, but spiritually. But nevertheless, also physically! When we receive Jesus in Holy Communion, we receive his risen flesh into our flesh, and his divine blood (Life) into our veins. We receive Jesus into our hearts as the divine guest. He dwells in us. Just as the communion hymn sings: “Savior, abide with us, and spread Thy table in our heart… Lord, sup with us in love divine…” This hymn sings of the heavenly wedding banquet that takes place in our heart, whenever we receive Holy Communion.
We understand that in Holy Communion, by means of this special sacrament in which bread and wine are changed into the Body and Blood of Christ, we receive Jesus into ourselves, really and truly, and not merely symbolically. But what we also need to realize, is that when we receive the Sacrament of the Eucharist, Jesus is receiving us into him, and not just symbolically, but actually.
A few verses later, in John 14:20, Jesus says, “In that day you will know that I am in my Father, and you in me, and I in you.” This is the great treasure of our faith. This the great secret of the Church, made possible through the Resurrection. This is why people become Catholic, so that they may arrive at the moment, after much preparation and searching, at the point where they can receive the Son of God in Holy Communion, and enter more deeply into this indwelling with Jesus and the Holy Spirit, and through Jesus, with the Father.
A few verses later, in John 14:20, Jesus says, “In that day you will know that I am in my Father, and you in me, and I in you.” This is the great treasure of our faith. This the great secret of the Church, made possible through the Resurrection. This is why people become Catholic, so that they may arrive at the moment, after much preparation and searching, at the point where they can receive the Son of God in Holy Communion, and enter more deeply into this indwelling with Jesus and the Holy Spirit, and through Jesus, with the Father.
In the early Church, the mystery of the Eucharist was not revealed or explained to new Christians until the very end, at the actual moment when they received Communion for the first time at the Easter Vigil. In fact, the purpose of the Easter season in the early Church was to teach the new Christians about this mystery. It was called the period of “Mystagogia.”
For the children today, they come to the moment of their First Holy Communion. They have been learning and preparing for several years, and finally they are old enough to appreciate what a special and unique gift this is from God.
The Eucharist is not just bread. The Eucharist is not just something symbolic. At the beginning of Mass, yes, we start with ordinary bread. But during the Mass Jesus does the same thing for us as he did at the Last Supper: he changes that bread and wine into his Risen Body and Blood, the flesh and Blood which conquered death. So when we receive the Eucharist, we are receiving the power and the reality of the Resurrection into our mortal flesh and body. And we are brought deeply into the banquet of love which the Father and Son experience by dwelling in each other.
Holy Communion is never something we should approach lightly. The children today remind us how carefully we need to prepare, how reverent we need to be, and by their white baptismal clothing they remind us how our lives need to be free of sin and consecrated to God, in order to participate in this Communion with God.
For us who were baptized as infants, and made our First Holy Communion when we were children, we should use this Easter season to deepen our own Mystagogia, listening to the words of Jesus as he speaks about this mystery, and recognizing what an incredible grace we possess in the Eucharist.
God dwells in us, and we dwell in God, through Jesus the Son of God who makes this possible in the Eucharist. Savior, abide with us, and spread Thy table in our heart.
For the children today, they come to the moment of their First Holy Communion. They have been learning and preparing for several years, and finally they are old enough to appreciate what a special and unique gift this is from God.
The Eucharist is not just bread. The Eucharist is not just something symbolic. At the beginning of Mass, yes, we start with ordinary bread. But during the Mass Jesus does the same thing for us as he did at the Last Supper: he changes that bread and wine into his Risen Body and Blood, the flesh and Blood which conquered death. So when we receive the Eucharist, we are receiving the power and the reality of the Resurrection into our mortal flesh and body. And we are brought deeply into the banquet of love which the Father and Son experience by dwelling in each other.
Holy Communion is never something we should approach lightly. The children today remind us how carefully we need to prepare, how reverent we need to be, and by their white baptismal clothing they remind us how our lives need to be free of sin and consecrated to God, in order to participate in this Communion with God.
For us who were baptized as infants, and made our First Holy Communion when we were children, we should use this Easter season to deepen our own Mystagogia, listening to the words of Jesus as he speaks about this mystery, and recognizing what an incredible grace we possess in the Eucharist.
God dwells in us, and we dwell in God, through Jesus the Son of God who makes this possible in the Eucharist. Savior, abide with us, and spread Thy table in our heart.
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