Dear Parishioners,

I hope you have had a blessed week.  Its been nice to see the sunshine and have some heat this week and I hope you have had a chance to enjoy it.

We continue the Easter season with the readings from the 7^th Sunday of Easter this weekend.  And a recurring theme over the last few weeks has been this idea of remaining in God, abiding in Him and in His love.  This Sunday, in the second reading, we read that God is love and that whoever remains in love remains Him and God in them.  It is an invitation to stay, to dwell, to be present, to wait in God.

What has struck me is the repetitive nature of this message in the scripture: It is important and necessary for the Christian life to be maintained in God and His love.  It is the source for everything else in our lives: how we live family life and our relationships, the options we make at work, the values we live by, how we face challenges etc.

We are very lucky to be part of a church and tradition that has such a rich culture of prayer and prayers.  And as beautiful as recited prayers are we forget sometimes that we also need to just be with God, to remain in Him, just enjoying Him, His love and His company.  The advantage of making this invitation (to remain in Him, to stay in His love, to be in His presence) a part of our lives is that it is an invitation to quieten down, to be silent and still and allow God the chance to speak to us.  It is an invitation to slow the hurried pace of our lives, often perpetuated and encouraged by society, and immerse ourselves in just how much we are loved.

In today’s Gospel, we listen to Jesus’s prayer to the Father which embodies all His love, care and compassion for us.  Every word is dripping with His love and His concern for us.  His desire for us to embody the oneness of His relationship with the Father. His desire to share His own Joy with us.  He is asking for our protection.  And although it is written in a general way for His disciples there is also a very personal call to each of use to know how much we are loved and invited to remain rooted, planted in this love.

And it is from here that we can then love as the second reading invites us to do “since God has loved us so much, we too should love one another.”  From being rooted and planted in our own experience of the love of God we are able to reach out and love others in an authentic way, giving of ourselves as Jesus gives Himself to us. 

Have a Blessed Sunday, Ann Marie, FMVD