In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, one God, Amen.
So many in our world are searching for something but they do not know what. There is something in their lives missing and they know not where to turn. So they go out looking for it in self-help books, or meditation, or gym membership, or in eastern mysticism. Or else they look in alcohol, or drugs, or gambling or anything else which points to something beyond the mundane life of this Age. And on a certain level this is good—they are dissatisfied with the life before them, they want something more, something beyond, something transcendent—but the search has become disfigured, they are looking in the wrong place.
We are now in an in between state, we have received the risen Christ yet he has, in some sense, withdrawn and we await with eagerness the coming of the Spirit. As for ancient Israel the Passover, the Pascha, of deliverance from Egypt forms the central part of their liberation from slavery, still had to be completed at Sinai with the giving of the Law: so too our deliverance from slavery will be completed at Pentecost. We have been given all, there is nothing more to receive save “power when the Holy Spirit has come upon [us]; and [we] shall be witnesses to [Christ] in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.” (Acts 1:8) And as a reminder of this the Church places before us today the prayer of Christ at the end of his long discourse at the Last Supper (John 13–17), immediately before his betrayal and arrest (18:1–11).
And he explains to us what so many in our world are seeking, albeit in the wrong places. For all those who are dissatisfied with life in this Age, the Lord tells us, “And this is eternal life, that they know you the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent.” Not know about God, for even the Satan knows about him, but know God—a true relationship with him. And at the apex of this relationship, when we truly know God, we offer him our mortality and he offers back immortality, we offer him ourselves and he offers union with him. This is what so many of our friends, relatives, neighbours are seeking and if we love them, truly love them, then it would be a profound denial of love to keep this hidden from them. “And this is eternal life, that they know you the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent.”
This is hard, and I baulk at the idea. “How can I,” I reason to myself, “reveal eternal life to those around me?” Because, if this is true—if Jesus Christ has risen from the grave and destroyed the power of Death—if this is Truth, then I must act. But I cower, I squirm, I hide; “Another,” I try to comfort myself, “will do it on my behalf.” And yet the Comforter is coming, one who strengthens us and vivifies us, one who gives us power and support. And the power he gives is the power to repent, to give up my sin and turn again to the Lord. And if I repent, if I make this Liturgy my own so that here and now the Kingdom of God is established, if I turn my week and my interactions with others into a thanksgiving for this Liturgy and a preparation for the next, then I am proclaiming eternal life.
My dear brothers and sisters in Christ, the Lord is calling us to repent, to live the Liturgy constantly in thanksgiving and preparation, so that we may proclaim eternal life to our society, to our neighbours, to our friends. Be a part of this proclamation that we, too, may establish here and now the Kingdom of God in this place and draw all to Christ who is the destiny of all who desire truth and life.
That we with eagerness and longing look to the coming of the Spirit who will strengthen us, guide us in all Truth and unite us with our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ and thereby we may offer true praise and worship to the one God and Father. Amen.
In those days, Paul had decided to sail past Ephesos, so that he might not have to spend time in Asia; for he was hastening to be at Jerusalem, if possible, on the day of Pentecost. And from Miletos he sent to Ephesos and called to him the elders of the church. And when they came to him, he said to them: “Take heed to yourselves and to all the flock, in which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, to care for the church of God which he obtained with the blood of his own Son. I know that after my departure fierce wolves will come in among you, not sparing the flock; and from among your own selves will arise men speaking perverse things, to draw away the disciples after them. Therefore be alert, remembering that for three years I did not cease night or day to admonish every one with tears. And now I commend you to God and to the word of his grace, which is able to build you up and to give you the inheritance among all those who are sanctified. I coveted no one’s silver or gold or apparel. You yourselves know that these hands ministered to my necessities, and to those who were with me. In all things I have shown you that by so toiling one must help the weak, remembering the words of the Lord Jesus, how he said, ‘it is more blessed to give than to receive.’ ” And when he had spoken thus, he knelt down and prayed with them all.
— Acts 20:16–18, 28–36
At that time, Jesus lifted up his eyes to heaven and said, “Father, the hour has come; glorify your Son that the Son may glorify you, since you have given him power over all flesh, to give eternal life to all whom you have given him. And this is eternal life, that they know you the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent. I glorified you on earth, having accomplished the work which you gave me to do; and now, Father, you glorify me in your own presence with the glory which I had with you before the world was made. I have manifested your name to the men whom you gave me out of the world; yours they were, and you gave them to me, and they have kept your word. Now they know that everything that you have given me is from you; for I have given them the words which you gave me, and they have received them and know in truth that I came from you; and they have believed that you did send me. I am praying for them; I am not praying for the world but for those whom you have given me, for they are mine; all mine are yours, and yours are mine, and I am glorified in them. And now I am no more in the world, but they are in the world, and I am coming to you. Holy Father, keep them in your name, which you have given me, that they may be one, even as we are one. While I was with them, I kept them in your name, which you have given me; I have guarded them, and none of them is lost but the son of perdition, that the scripture might be fulfilled. But now I am coming to you; and these things I speak in the world, that they may have my joy fulfilled in themselves.
— John 17:1–13