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Hello everyone and welcome back to the Matthew Schreiner podcast. And I am thinking of changing the upload schedule, and uploading videos on Sunday and Thursday, rather than Monday and Thursday. Since most of these videos are reflecting on Sunday’s readings. But I will be thinking about that, and no change will be happening soon. Regardless, this episode will be once again a reflection on the Sunday readings. This is the readings of the Sixth Sunday of Easter.

We once again read from the Acts of the Apostles. The Acts of the Apostle recounts the story of the Early Church. We learn about Philip, who is one of the Apostle, who proclaims Christ. Those who heard Philip and saw the signs he worked caused attentiveness and great joy in the city. When the Apostles hear about it, they send Peter and John, that those in the city may receive the Holy Spirit.

In the second reading Paul exhorts us to “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,”.

In the Gospel, Christ tells us that the father “will give you another Advocate to be with you always, the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot accept,”. Christ tells us that “[he] will not leave [us] orphans”, and that “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.”

There are several continuities between these readings. The first tells us with what joy those who hear the words of the apostles received them. We learn that the Apostles cam and gave the Holy Spirit to those baptized, through the laying of hands. Paul exhorts us that we should sanctify Christ in our hearts, we should allow Christ to live and reign into our hearts. We have discussed this several times before. We should be able to give an explanation for the reason of our hope.

Hope is one of the most important Christian virtues. Why do Christians have such hope? Why do Christians have such joy? We return to the first reading. The Apostles message caused great joy among the Samaritans. We can assume that it was with great joy that Philip preached the message of Christ to the Samaritans. What was the cause of this? The answer, is Christ. Christ is the cause of our joy.

It was that the twelve had great joy when Christ was with them. But when Christ had left them after his crucifixion, they were lost and filled with fear. But when Christ had returned at his Resurrection, they were once again filled with joy. It was with great joy that Thomas, filled once with doubt, and fear, proclaimed “Dominus meus et Deus meus”, “my Lord and my God”.

This was pointed out by our homilist today, Jesus says “If you love me, keep my commandments”. He does not say if you fear me, if you want to avoid punishment, do what I say. Jesus’s rules are meant for those who love him. I think we can think of this in a way like mother’s day. When you love someone you do what is best for them. We follow God’s laws because we love him, not because we fear him. He has his laws because he loves us, and knows what is best for us.

Like the apostles we too are not orphans. We are not left alone. We still have the Holy Ghost still with us today. Still to be our advocate and guide. And we are called to be like the early church, to have a zeal behind the faith that we teach. We are called to be Christ’s witnesses to the end of the earth, sharing his faith. We too should “give an explanation” to our hope, that is the hope that we he have in Christ Jesus.

We do not fear Jesus, rather we have hope in him. We love him greatly. Which is why we are able to preach and live this faith with such joy. We too can see great joy in the people we bring such hope in to, like the city of Samaria. We can have this joy in our life, and we can bring this joy to others.

Our faith does not require mindless submission, rather it is logical, meant to be understood. This is why Paul is able to say that we are to have an explination for our hope. This is not a blind hope, or a hope without a true end. Rather, Christ is the end of our hope. We can trust in the apostles words, just like those of Samaria in the first reading, who trusted and believed and were filled with great joy. And Christ has not left us alone, he has not just left us with empty words. First of all, he has given us the spirit, and second he promised that he would be back.

And he promised us love, he promised us the love of God. We too can be filled with great joy, and cry out with the apostle “Dominus meus et Deus meus”. We too can experience the love of God, just like those in Samaria. We too can receive the Spirit of God. We too can receive God’s love, and we too can love God.