Sixth Sunday of Easter, Year A (2026)

Sixth Sunday of Easter, Year A 
Acts 8:5-8, 14-17 
Psalm 66:1-3, 4-5, 6-7, 16, 20 (1) 
1 Peter 3:15-18 
John 14:15-21 
May 10, 2026 

Jesus loves you. 

Jesus loves every single person in the world. 

It might seem hard to imagine.  There are people in the world who are hard to love.  Could our Lord say the same thing about us?  Are you hard to love? 

Everything begins with love.  Jesus says to us, “If you love me, you will keep my commandments.”  When another person says, “If you love me…,” we might be skeptical of what they want.  Are they trying to get us to do something we know we shouldn’t do or that we don’t want to do?  Are they using our love to manipulate us? 

Jesus isn’t like that.  Look carefully at his words, “If you love me, you will keep my commandments.”  He does not say that our keeping his commandments are a condition of his love for us.  Rather, He is telling us that if we love him, then we will naturally want to keep his commandments.  Feeling his love motivates us to see the goodness of his commandments and to keep them. 

As human beings, our love is not perfect.  God’s love is perfect for God is love (1 John 4:16).  Jesus knows He is about to be arrested and crucified.  He knows we are sinners and is ready to die for us.  He also knows that we need help.  He will be leaving his disciples soon but He will not leave us orphaned.  He offers his disciples assurance by telling them (us), “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, because it neither sees nor knows him.”   

Jesus promises He will remain in us as we are to remain in him.  Our keeping of his commandments does not earn our salvation but keeping the commandments does serve as evidence of our faith and love in God our Father, our Lord Christ, and the Holy Spirit. 

As individuals, we struggle in sin.  As disciples, we are called to recognize that we are never alone for the Holy Spirit is always with us. 

To trust and embrace in the Holy Spirit brings forth peace and joy as fruits of the Holy Spirit.  With our faith and love in God, we have good reason to hope.  Hope is desperately needed in the world.  The world needs to understand where real hope comes from.  Real hope has God as its source.   

When we live in faith and love of God, our hope can be a beacon a light to others in the darkness of a sinful world.  As Peter says, when others see our hope, we need to “Always be ready to give an explanation to anyone who asks you for a reason for your hope, bot do it with gentleness and reverence.”   

The world may reject us for our faith because the world has rejected what our faith teaches.  We may suffer for our faith and doing good but it is better to suffer in this world for doing what is right with God than to suffer for doing evil for eternity in Hell. 

The Holy Spirit is at work in each one of us individually.  The Holy Spirit is also at work in our church that was born when water and blood poured out from the pierced side of Jesus on the Cross and the disciples received the Holy Spirit at Pentecost. 

We need to work with the Church, the Church that is from God, not man.  We see this in our first reading.  Philip went to Samaria to proclaim Christ to those who would listen.  Many did pay attention to what he said and saw how God drove out evil spirits and cured people through Philip. 

While the power of God did mighty deeds through Philip, Philip did not minister as a one-person army.  He would proclaim the gospel but the Apostles would come to lay hands on the people who accepted the faith so they would receive the Holy Spirit (This is the beginnings of the Sacrament of Confirmation normally administered by bishops who serve as successors to the Apostles). 

There is much work to be done to proclaim the gospel.  Are you ready to help?  Step one is to love the Lord our God.  Then, as we are filled with hope, joy, and peace, we love our neighbors as brothers and sisters in Christ. 

As the Holy Spirit works in you, do you pray for the Holy Spirit to be at work in the Church? 

Do you understand what it means to be God’s Church?  We are not called to be a church where the world determines what we believe.  We are called to be one, holy, catholic, and apostolic church, with Jesus as our cornerstone and the Holy Spirit as our navigator.  You are free to choose your own way but we come to a better way when we follow Jesus as the way and the truth and the life (John 14:6).  There are many voices in the world.  We do better to listen to Jesus. 

Peace, 

Fr. Jeff