Homily for Saturday of the 6th Week of Easter

For daily readings, see http://www.usccb.org/nab/readings/050308.shtml

St. James and St. Philip, pray for us!

Mary, Queen of Vocations, pray for us!

It takes a lot of thought to process what Jesus is really saying to his apostles like James and Philip, whom we celebrate today. It is especially hard when Jesus says that his apostles will perform works greater than the works that He Himself performed. One of the keys to understanding, I think, is to realize that through the sacramental life of the Church, it is always Jesus Himself, working through the human minister, who performs the work worked. This is true of the priest at Mass and in confession to be sure, but even of the couple saying wedding vows at the altar. We are performing the works, and yet He is the one performing the works, and vice versa. This is why Jesus says to His disciples that it is so important that they understand that He is in the Father and the Father is in Him, so that they will also understand that through the Holy Spirit, He is in them and they in Him! It is impossible for us, indeed, to perform works greater than the ones Jesus performed, unless He is completely in us as He promised to be, and unless it is impossible to distinguish who is doing the work. Once we understand this, the apostolic work of the Church, especially as embodied in the sacraments, makes sense. Jesus performed many works, or signs, that were outside of his ultimate sign of being lifted up on the cross, but were performed so that people would believe that He was sent from the Father in heaven. His apostolic Church, engages in these lesser works as well as She is able, in imitation of Christ, but the central work of the Church is the work of the Eucharist, the source and summit of the sacramental life. The Mass at Yankee Stadium, for example, made present the paschal mystery of the Lord, His greatest work, for 50,000 in attendance, and in a smaller way, for the millions of others who watched and prayed. Jesus did not have any crowds of 50,000 in the Gospels. More importantly, the Church is entrusted with the greater work of finishing the mission that Jesus began, of reconciling the world to the Father. We can only do this if through the gift of the Holy Spirit we prepare to celebrate at Pentecost, He is truly in us and we are in Him!

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