Being a Keeper of the Word
May
9
Written by:
Sunday, May 09, 2010
Being a Keeper of the Word
Pastor’s Column
6th Sunday of Easter
May 9, 2010
If anyone loves me, he will keep my Word,
and my Father will love him
and we shall come to him
and make our home with him.
Those who do not love me do not keep my words.
John 14:23
As any mother will tell you (this is Mother’s Day weekend), it is easier to say “I love you” than it is to show it. Our Lord makes it easy for us to understand: if you love me, you will keep my Word. In other words, Our Lord is saying to us this Sunday, “If you love me, you will do what I ask you to do!” How do I know if I love the Lord or if I really do not? Well, am I doing what Jesus wants me to do, or not? Do I “keep the Word of God in my heart – or not?
At every Mass, Christ serves us two meals: the banquet of the Word and the banquet and sacrifice of the Eucharist. Do I really listen to the Word of God when I attend Mass? Do I really listen to the Word of God and make it my own? Do these words have a home in me? The Word of God is our blueprint for going “home” – to heaven!
Nothing is more poignant than the idea of “home.” What is “home?” When we are children, “home” is where we live and grow up. Later, as adults, “home” is what we make of it. What is my idea of “home?” How would I furnish it? Who would live there? What pictures would be hanging on the wall? Where is home in my life?
What Christ is telling us is that, wherever our earthly home may be, our real home is in heaven. When we really listen to the Word of God and keep it, Christ will come to us and make his home within us. The scriptures and the church are our guide home. Every time I really listen to the Word of God and it finds a place in my heart, I have come home.
Father Gary