SIXTH SUNDAY OF EASTER – A: 29th May, 2011

SIXTH SUNDAY OF EASTER – A: 29th May, 2011

Acts 8:5-8.14-17; Ps. 65; 1 Pet. 3:15-18; Jn. 14: 15-21


My dear Brothers and Sisters,


Several years back home in India, I was invited to guide an eight-day retreat to a Congregation of Religious Sisters. Attached to the Convent was an Orphanage that provided a home and shelter for little infants. Some of these were single or double orphans having lost both parents; others were babies abandoned either at the convent gate at dead of night or at times sadly found near a roadside garbage dump. I took time off between the spiritual exercises and conferences of the retreat to visit these orphans. I would stoop to carry in my arms one and two of the toddlers at a time only to find a third tugging at my soutane wanting to be carried too! The Sister who accompanied me gave me to understand that this was a pathetic sight. These little orphans had never felt the warmth of a home or the love of a parental embrace. They suffered not only from skin hunger but from a deeper hunger – the hunger for love. They felt lost and lonely, forsaken and forgotten.


“I will not leave you orphans”, says Jesus to his apostles. They had lived with Him for three years; they had listened to His teaching; they had witnessed the stupendous miracles He wrought like calming the stormy sea, feeding the hungry multitudes and raising the dead back to life. They had encountered Him after His resurrection for forty days as He appeared to them. And now He was to return to His Father. He would soon bid them farewell and be taking their leave. Parting is painful. Is it not? They felt lost and lonely, forsaken and forgotten. Is that not the way we too feel at times? We feel orphaned. God seems so far away and even when we pray He seems so distant and deaf. We feel we have been left to fend for ourselves. We feel we are struggling alone. We are tempted to think that we are praying in a void.


“I will not leave you orphans.” How comforting and consoling are these words! Jesus does not leave us orphans. He is with us as He promised to be – yes, even to the end of time. He gives us His Spirit to befriend us, an Advocate to plead our cause and fight our case, the Spirit of truth to guide us. His Spirit will be with us forever. We know from history that empires have risen and fallen, crises and catastrophes have hit the Church, her leaders have proved unfaithful and unworthy – but through it all the Church has emerged safe and strong.


My dear Brothers and Sisters, we must never lose heart or feel forsaken and forgotten like orphans. Not for a moment does God abandon us. We are the work of His hands and He holds us in the hollow of His palms. Can a mother forget her baby or a woman the child she has nursed? Even if these forget, I will not forget says the Lord. In the ups and downs of life, in trial and trouble, in doubt and difficulty, in darkness and despair, God is at work fulfilling His purposes and making our darkest moments our deepest moments. To Him we must turn in prayer surrendering our cares and concerns into His hands and knowing that surrender is the secret to serenity. Amen.




[St. Tudwal Church, Barmouth – Msgr. Alex Rebello (564 Words)]