Seventh Sunday of Easter, Year A – Homily (2026)
7th Sunday of Easter, Year A
Acts 1:12-14
Psalm 27:1, 4, 7-8 (13)
1 Peter 4:13-16
John 17:1-11a
May 17, 2026
Just before He ascended, He told his disciples to “wait for “the promise of the Father…the Holy Spirit.”
After they saw Jesus ascend to Heaven to resume his place at the right hand of our Father, the disciples returned to the upper room in Jerusalem where they prayed together as they waited for the Holy Spirit.
They had much to contemplate. They used the time between the Ascension of Jesus and the coming of the Holy Spirit to reflect on what had happened and to pray about what was to come.
They used this time as a retreat, a time to contemplate all that had happened, most especially to contemplate what the Ascension of Jesus meant for them and for us.
We need to regularly spend time contemplating what our Lord has done for us. It can be good to take a retreat now and then but we need to reflect on the Lord’s presence and action in our lives more regularly than an occasional retreat.
We can begin and/or end each day with a little reflection time. Now I want to reflect on how we spend Sunday as a day for the Lord.
When God created the world, He “blessed the seventh day and made it holy, because on it He rested from all the work He had done in creation” (Genesis 2:3)
For many people today their understanding of Sunday as a time for the Lord calls them to go Mass for one hour and then resting from paid work. However, many people do not really rest. They just do something other than paid work. Many people spend the rest of the day doing whatever they want.
When God blessed the seventh day, He did not make “holy” just one hour of it. The Bible tells us God blessed the day.
It then says God rested. What does it mean to say God rested? Does God need to rest in the physical sense? God works 24/7 to take care of us but does He need to rest?
When God rested on the seventh day, it was not about physical rest. When God rested, He stopped and looked at what He had created and saw it was good.
We need to take time on Sunday to reflect on the previous week. We can start with contemplating the good things we did. We can also contemplate the bad things that happened and how God was present to us in any sufferings. Lastly, for the week ahead, we can ask God what He calls us to do to help build his kingdom.
We can contemplate the suffering we see in the world. What can be done about the suffering? What should be done about the suffering?
Many people in the world today reject suffering. There is suffering that should be eliminated like suffering that happens as a consequence of our sins. For instance, if we stop sins of anger, there will be less violence and hatred in the world.
There is also suffering that comes from people not having enough food to eat or a good place to live. In the Corporal Works of Mercy, Jesus calls to feed the hungry and shelter the homeless. Hunger and homelessness are suffering to be eliminated.
Does this mean that all suffering should be eliminated?
This is what some people think when they seek to end a life through assisted suicide when a person suffers in pain. There are also people who call for abortion as a means of eliminating suffering when a child in the womb is diagnosed with a medical condition.
It is good to manage, perhaps even eliminate physical pain but this does not require hastening the death of a person in pain. Modern medicine has made huge strides in pain management and named the field, “Palliative Care.” We also think of the work of hospice and comfort care homes.
When it comes to a child in the womb, what does it mean to suffer a lifelong medical condition? Can there be real suffering involved? Yes, but who defines what is suffering?
For instance, in prenatal screening, one of the typical screenings is for Down Syndrome. It is true that Down Syndrome can lead to a short life and it can be challenging for the family. Yet, the children I have seen with Down Syndrome are some of the most loving children I know and the same can be true of their families. Yes, it is challenging but it can also be blessing when one trusts in the Lord rather than thinking one knows better than the Lord.
Suffering can have great value. As Christians we see the suffering Jesus went through to save us from our sins with gratitude and immense value.
Peter calls us to rejoice when we “share in the sufferings of Christ.”
When we accept our sufferings in the name of Jesus, we allow God to walk with us through our sufferings rather than fighting against what the Lord asks of us. It is bearing our sufferings with faith that we witness to the world that our faith offers a better way.
It is when we keep God’s Word that we show our faith that God’s Way is a better way than worldly ways. It is when we accept suffering that we show our trust in God. God wants us to end suffering due to illness, wars, and hatred. God then invites us to accept what suffering remains and to hand it over to him.