Seventh Sunday of Easter
“ONENESS”
ONENESS
The prayer Jesus prayed on the cusp of his departure from his friends.
ONENESS
The vision of God, prayed by Jesus and given to his followers
as he faced torture and death.
ONENESS
The reality gifted to us through Jesus, the Resurrected One.
ONENESS
The call of the Church, the work of God’s beloved,
the desperate need within the community of life today.
Sometimes, when I listen to this Gospel reading, I get dizzy! I seem to get tangled up in the words and the ideas and meaning…a little lost and unsure. Jesus seems to be describing something so close and intimate about God’s love and presence in our lives that the words start to jumble together and feel more like a puzzle than anything else. Sometimes, I can relax into the Scripture reading. I can let the words weave into me the deepest truth…the love of God, in and through Jesus. I can sense the gift of God’s life in me through the unceasing presence of the Holy Spirit. I can feel myself consecrated in this truth and can rest in it and be moved by it and be challenged by it to be it.
ONENESS
Given and gifted for the sake of the world.
How then does my life, our lives proclaim the oneness of God’s love and presence?
Jesus welcomed…do I? …do we?
Jesus called forth the best in people…do I? …do we?
Jesus was a healing presence…am I? …are we?
Jesus opened hearts to love and truth…do I? …do we?
Jesus desired to bring others into a relationship with God, Who is Love…do I? …do we?
Jesus was moved by the suffering of people…am I? …are we?
Jesus honored God’s creation, sharing in it, teaching through it, and knowing God’s presence expressed in every element of creation…do I? …do we?
God loves you and me and every molecule of creation with an everlasting love. This is our resting place and the place from which we need to launch into the world as the welcomers, healers, and preachers of Love. With the same urgency and trust that must have been in the heart of Jesus as he prayed this prayer of oneness over his followers, may we spend our lives drawing others into the Oneness of Love.
Sr. Didi Madden, OP