Our Sunday Reflections

CLICK HERE for the Audio recording of the Readings of
May 17th, 2020.  Sixth Sunday of Easter.

CLICK HERE for the Readings of May 17th, 2020.  Sixth Sunday of Easter. 

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Join Fr. Anthony as he reflects on his memories from his childhood days through his life's journey from Uganda to Lunenburg...

"This also gives you the impression of what Church and faith are to me, my family and the people from the area I grew up."  -Fr. Anthony   READ MORE

May 17th, 2020.  Sixth Sunday of Easter.  
 

“With one accord, the crowds paid attention to what was said by Philip when they heard it and saw the signs he was doing” 
Acts of the Apostles 8: 6

Do Your Part

Friends recently had it staying at home, and decided to take a ride to Boston, to see what was going on.  They told me at the end of the trip that the city is ‘dead’.
 
One does not have to go that far to notice that a lot is kind of ‘dead’ around us.  I celebrate these online Masses, but it is not the same: empty pews, no physical congregation, no response, we make it work, but it is ‘dead’.  The parish hall is beautiful but without people in it, is ‘dead’.  The CCD classes, pre-school empty are all ‘dead’.  There is a certain deadness that has truly invaded our lives these days.
 
If the word ‘dead’ is synonymous to our present times, in the readings we listen to this weekend, it is the exact opposite.  The one word that expresses the readings is ‘Life’/Spirit.  Wherever the spirit goes, whomever the spirit of God touches, whenever the Gospel is spread, there is ‘life’ and newness.
 
Philip (one of the seven men last Sunday chosen as a deacon) after the brutal death of Stephen, is empowered by the Spirit.  He goes to Samaria (a Gentile city) and he proclaims Christ (tells of the doings of God).  The Good news now reaches beyond Jerusalem and Judea. There will be no barriers to the Good News. The people pay attention to what Philip says. They listen to him and see what he is doing.  By the power of the Spirit, many unclean spirits go out of many possessed people.  The paralyzed and crippled are cured.  There was great joy in that city. 
 
Philip is an evangelizer.  He tells the doings of God with his life.
 
We too, like Philip, are called and challenged to ‘do our part’ to tell the Good News by our lives.  We are baptized and therefore spirit filled.  We are to commit ourselves to this.  When we ‘do our part’, the spirit will reveal himself through us.  The presence of God will be made actual and real in our lives and the lives of others.
 
What is it that might make us afraid or unready to be like Philip?  How attentive will those who are to receive our message be?  Will we find a ‘listening’ crowd today? 
 
The Gospel is centered on Jesus’ farewell discourses. There is a ‘goodbye’ tone to it.  To the disciples fearful of what is next, Jesus reassures them thus:  “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…” (John 14: 15-17) . Further,  “I will not leave you orphans, I will come to you” (John 14: 18).  To love and keep the commandments is a commitment that Jesus requires of his disciples and us.  We are to ‘do our part’ . We must embrace a Jesus way of life, live as he did, do as he did.  Do your part.
 
There is one thing that Jesus does not hide to all disciples (us): “The Spirit of truth, the world does not accept”.  It is good that we know and are forewarned.  You see, we are the new Philip, the new disciples and the world we go to preach is very unlike the world of scriptures.  The world or our new Samaria is fiercely opposed to the Gospel or a Jesus way of life.
 
The New Samaria is distracted by many things and itself.  It is self absorbed with its advancement and development.  It is a city that is un-attentive from the get-go.  It is a city/world divided into clusters of opinions. It is a world/city that claims to have its own truth.  It is a world that thinks it can self-cure.  In this new Samaria, standards are already set as to who merits what.  Who merits Good News, who merits Life, who merits Joy?  It is a world that is not patient and gentle (Second reading) , so what Good News can one bring here? To whom? There is much hostility to the Life and ways of God.

 Yet even with this, one is always confident only in the Lord, there is nothing that can stop the Spirit.  So, you the new Philip/disciple, brave up and ‘do your part’.

Come Holy Spirit!

Fr. Anthony


View the below video for another Reflection on the readings.