Sixth Sunday of Easter, Year B


Acts 10:25-26, 34-35, 44-48

Psalm 98:1, 2-3, 3-4

1 John 4:7-10 or 1 John 4:11-16

John 15:9-17 or John 17:11b-19


“That’s the way we’ve always done it!” “Why are you changing everything?!” These cries from the heart are expressed by people everywhere as they face the need to adapt to new circumstances. Besides death and taxes, there is a third item that is inevitable: change.

For Christians, this has always been the problem. We are, when all is said and done, introducing the world to news that transcends every other kind of news. The God who created the world is intervening in His own creation, making it more than it can be on its own, by the power of the Holy Spirit operating in and through us. This means we must be ready for the new, for change and for something beyond every expectation.

The fact that the Agent of Change is the Spirit of the Risen Lord Jesus tells us that God himself supplies the solution for us to be able to adapt to the new situation. The Holy Spirit will guide and strengthen us for all that God proposes to accomplish in us. But our hearts must change through an opening to the Spirit.

“The Lord has revealed to the nations his saving power.” As salvation history unfolds for us, God reveals that His intention is to offer salvation to all nations and peoples. We are often caught up in our own way of seeing and understanding. We are uncomfortable with innovation. We prefer to stay in our own circles and welcoming new members to the table is hard for us. Yet, it has been revealed to the nations and to us that God’s saving power is available, and God is expecting us to use it and to follow where the Spirit leads.

The sacraments of the Catholic Church are the usual means used by God and his Spirit to bring salvation to souls open to receive what is offered. However, it is God’s prior right, His prerogative, to offer salvation according to His own Will, not our expectations. Peter experiences this when Cornelius and his household hear the offer of salvation and assent to it, and immediately receive the Holy Spirit as the Apostles did on Pentecost.  

The Gentiles are not baptized and have not had the Apostles’ hands laid on them, so they have not been touched by the Sacraments. God intervenes and Peter makes a decision that has made all the difference for us. Seeing what God has done in the Gentiles already by the power of His Spirit, Peter incorporates them immediately into the growing Church. Peter says, “Can anyone withhold the water for baptizing these people, who have received the Holy Spirit even as we have?” Then, “He ordered them to be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ.”

The overflow of the power of the Spirit is so great that the Church offers several options for the Scriptures to be proclaimed from the First Letter of John and from the Gospel of John. All these texts focus on God’s love for us as his children and on God’s free choice of us, as disciples of Jesus and as those who are sent on a worldwide mission.

This Sunday, it would be good to reflect on the power of the Holy Spirit shared with us through the sacraments. In Baptism, we become sons and daughters of the Father, brothers and sisters to Jesus. In Confirmation, we are strengthened in our faith and empowered by the Holy Spirit to be proclaimers of the Word of God, the truth that he offers salvation to all. We are made one in Christ through the Eucharist so that we may live in unity and strive to incorporate others into that unity. When we see the world around us through this way of understanding, we must be ready to change and become ever more open to perceiving God’s intention for something new for all.

Death has been overcome by the Resurrection of Jesus. It is still inevitable, but it does not have real power. Change in response to gospel joy leads to a new life that begins now and will last forever when we join the Risen Lord and all the saints.