How good it is when we are united in love and concern for one another. The prayer of every parent and every family member is seen in today’s Gospel (John 17:20-26) where Jesus is ending His words to His disciples at the Last Supper and about to go out and pray in the Garden and then be arrested and crucified. Jesus knows that the unity He prays for will not happen the next day. In fact His disciples will run away in fear when He is arrested and crucified. But Jesus never stopped hoping because He never stopped loving. His words of prayer from His heart were: “Holy Father, I pray not only for them, but also for those who will believe in me through their word, so that they may all be one, as you, Father, are in me and I in you, that they also may be in us, that the world may believe that you sent me.” The more we can see the love others have for us, especially in their patience and forgiveness, the stronger our bond with each other and the more united we become.

Consistency is a very important part of who we are. To be consistent, we strive to be faithful to our commitments in life. It is very easy to make a commitment, to speak the words. But when we are challenged and questioned, our hearts and minds are revealed. In the Gospel for today’s Mass (John 14:23-29), Jesus says, “Whoever loves me will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our dwelling with him. Whoever does not love me does not keep my words; yet the word you hear is not mine but that of the Father who sent me.” Jesus not only speaks the words of God, He is the Word of God. This point is clearly made in the first chapter of St. John’s Gospel where St. John tells us: “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things came to be through him, and without him nothing came to be. What came to be through him was life, and this life was the light of the human race; the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.”

One of the passages from the Bible that is read at funerals at times comes from the Old Testament book of Ecclesiastes 3:1-8. It begins with these words: “There is an appointed time for everything, and a time for every affair under the heavens” and concludes with these words: “There is a time to love and a time to hate, a time of war and a time of peace.” We are all very aware of the war going on in Ukraine. How horrible to see the death and destruction of the people there. How and when will peace come? In our own nation we do not physically have a war but we certainly see a lot of hatred and anger. Will love ever become our guiding light?

At times we quizzically ask, “Which came first, the chicken or the egg?” That simple question came to mind after a conversation I had that was thought provoking: What comes first - growth or change? In order to change growth has to take place and if growth is going to occur change is necessary. From birth to death our bodies and minds are constantly changing. Our bodies grow physically from infancy to adulthood to old age. Our minds are filled with ideas, thoughts, and information and experiences that we reflect on. Our ultimate quest is to see not only how we got to where we are in this point in life, but where our life’s journey is leading us.

As we continue our celebration of Easter we reflect on the power of Jesus to rise from the dead and to share His power over sin and death with us. From a human point of view Jesus could have just given up. He could have come back breathing anger and disappointment. But as we saw in last Sunday’s Gospel with the doubting Thomas, Jesus came back to reassure and renew His followers with His love. I recently listened to a short reflection that had this simple point: Jesus loved His followers as they were, but He also loved them too much to let them stay the way they were. The crucifixion of Jesus filled them with fear and despair. As we saw in last Sunday’s Gospel (John 20:19-31) Jesus came through doors the disciples had locked for fear of being associated with Him and greeted them with these words: “Peace be with you!” As much as He loved them all during His three year public ministry, He did not let their flawed and fearful humanity lead Him to give up on them. He loved them as they were but loved them too much to leave them that way.