6th Sunday of Easter, Year C – Homily (2025)
6th Sunday of Easter, Year C
Acts 15:1-2, 22-29
Psalm 67:2-3, 5, 6, 8 (4)
Revelation 21:10-14, 22-23
John 14:23-29
May 25, 2025
Jesus does many miracles. He teaches many things but Jesus does not act on his own. The word He speaks is not his own “but that of the Father who sent” him.
The Father and Jesus are one. As our Nicene Creed says, they are “God from God, Light from Light, true God from true God.
It is not just the two of them. There is also “the Advocate, the Holy Spirit” of whom Jesus says, “the Father will send in my name, will teach you everything and remind you of all that I told you.”
It is as our Nicene Creed also says, the Holy Spirit “proceeds from the Father and the Son.”
The Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit work together in perfect unity. What each one teaches is always in continuity with what the others have said.
They form a perfect unity. As human beings, we are not perfect but we are still called to work in unity. We are not to act solely as isolated individuals. We are to be one Body in Christ.
As we profess in the Nicene Creed, we are to be one, holy, catholic, and apostolic church.
Today’s reading from the Book of Revelation reveals to us a vision of the “holy city Jerusalem” that “gleamed with the splendor of God.”
The names of the twelve apostles are inscribed on its foundation showing we are called to be an apostolic church. The names of the twelve tribes of Israel are written on its gates showing that we are to be one, part of the people that God has always chosen to be his own. Catholicism was not a rupture from Judaism. It was its natural growth when Jesus came into the world.
In keeping with their Jewish roots, some of the Jews who had come to believe in Christ thought the Gentiles needed to be circumcised and keep other Jewish customs. There was much debate.
It was clear these were not issues for each person to decide for themselves. The Christians knew they needed to be one Body in Christ.
So, the apostles and elders gathered in Jerusalem for what is seen as the first council held by our Catholic Church. When they came to “one accord,” they decided to send a letter out to communicate what had been decided.
Councils since then have always published documents of what they decided. Popes write documents to convey church teaching. It is written down to help provide a uniform message to all.
Those who had insisted that the Gentile converts be circumcised had done so “without any mandate” from the apostles and elders. It was important to convey the truth over that which had disturbed the “peace of mind” of the early Christians.
Today there are some people who claim to speak for our Catholic faith but do so “without any mandate” from mother Church. They want to change church teaching. There are some who sometimes say, “the church needs to get with the times.”
What they say is a rupture from what our apostolic, our one faith has taught.
We must never let the world dictate what we believe. It is our faith that should shape the world.
What makes our Catholic Church right?
The teachings we are talking about are not decided by human beings alone. No, the only way we live with Jesus Christ as our foundation is for our Catholic Church, relying on the words of scripture, to seek that Church teaching “is the decision of the Holy Spirit and of us.”
The “us” is not “us” as separate individuals. It is us as those chosen by God to be his people.
The world has changed in the 2,000 years that have passed since Jesus Christ walked on earth. The world has changed since the words we read in the Bible were written down. This does not mean the Bible is outdated. The words in the Bible are inspired by God. As such, they are “living and effective” (Hebrews 4:12).
The world changes but the Truth of Jesus Christ does not change. What we need to do is ask the Holy Spirit, as the Spirit has always done for our Church, to guide us to apply what we find in the Bible to our world today.
As Pope Francis wrote in Evangelii Gaudium, the gospel truth does not change. We need to find new ways to convey the truth but God’s Truth always remains as the Truth.
Again, when I say we need to rely on the Holy Spirit to help us apply the Bible and Church today, I do not mean we do this solely as individuals.
No, we do it as one, holy, catholic, and apostolic church, rooted in the Word of God, and led by the Holy Spirit.