Sixth Sunday of Easter
JN 15:9-17
May 6, 2018

The Easter Season is coming to a close. The school year and my career as a substitute teacher are rapidly coming to an end as well. I can’t help but wonder if The Risen Christ, knowing He would soon return to heaven, felt as I feel. There is so much left to teach these 9th graders about God, and so little time left to do it. Moreover, as the time grows short, so does their attention span. Good weather isn’t helping the situation either. Their minds are looking forward to summer vacation, and not to The Coming of Kingdom. When it gets especially challenging to motivate them, I remind myself that “that they are just kids.”

So, on Ascension Day, as The Lord was fading from time and returning to Eternity, was He concerned that He was leaving behind a band of ill prepared…immature…disciples, who still had so very much to learn? Maybe!
But it’s doubtful that He was as concerned about them, as I am about my students.

After all, Jesus knew that He was not leaving His followers orphaned. He knew that on Pentecost the Holy Spirit would come upon them, and they would receive all they needed in order to continue the work which He had begun.

So, as my students move on with their educations and their lives, I take comfort in knowing that Pentecost was not a one time event in history. The Holy Spirit continues to shower humankind with those Gifts that enable us to live as Jesus calls us to live…in love. Maybe some things simply can’t be taught and can only be learned by experiencing them. And this is the lesson to learn from our Readings on this final Sunday of the Easter Season.

We live in the Spirit, we live in love…and when we live in love..we live in God Who is Love!

If my students have learned this much, then I will not feel that I have failed them…and so I won’t….fail them that is.