May 19, 2025
Paulist Fr. Rich Andre preached this homily on the Fifth Sunday of Easter (Year C) on May 18, 2025, at Old St. Mary’s Catholic Church in Chicago, IL. The homily is based on the day’s readings: Acts 14:21-27; Psalm 145; Revelation 21:1-5a; and John 13:31-33a, 34-35.
The chronological order of our readings during Easter season is different from most other Sundays of the year. The first of the events described in our readings today is the gospel passage: we hear what Jesus said after washing the disciples’ feet at the Last Supper. Our first reading comes next, telling of Barnabas and Paul’s “first” missionary journey, perhaps 15 years after Jesus’s death, resurrection, and ascension. And our second reading is from the end of the first century: St. John of Patmos’ vision in the Book of Revelation.
As we hear Jesus giving his commandment to the disciples to love one another, as we hear of Paul and Barnabas uniting Jews and Greeks, and as we hear of John’s vision of heaven being wedded to earth, I can’t help but think about the students in our community making their first communion this weekend. [Name(s)], you will receive the grace of Jesus Christ in a new and profound way today, and we are so excited for you! [Applause?]
Jesus has commanded us, like the apostles, to proclaim the gospel by loving one another. Through our baptism, we have received the grace to carry out this commandment. Let’s celebrate that! [Sprinkling rite, then Gloria.]
Now that we have a pope who belongs to the Augustinian order, we will likely be hearing a lot more about St. Augustine of Hippo, one of the three most influential theologians of Christianity. One of Augustine’s best contributions to the faith is his ideas about sacramental theology. With today’s readings and the first communions we’re celebrating this weekend, it’s a great day to talk about sacraments.
Augustine famously explained sacraments this way: “You see one thing but believe another.” We recognize seven sacraments in the Catholic Church – seven moments when grace is always present, no matter how flawed the presiding minister is or how flawed the person receiving the sacrament is.
In baptism, we see someone temporarily cleansed with water, but we believe that they are being knit into the Body of Christ for all time.
[Names], at your first reconciliation earlier this year, you saw a priest hold his hand in blessing over you, but we believed that God had forgiven you and was strengthening you to choose good in your life.
In the confirmations we celebrated two weeks ago, we saw Bishop Siemianowski slather oil on the foreheads on our confirmandi, but we believed that the Holy Spirit was confirming them in their faith.
When we see a priest anointing the palms of a patient’s hands during the Anointing of the Sick, we believe in God’s embrace and assurance to the patient at a time of concern about their health.
At weddings, we see couples exchange rings, but we believe that God provides the couple with the grace to commit themselves to each other for the rest of their lives.
On video earlier today / yesterday, when we saw Bishop Walkowiak lay hands on Chris Malano & Ben Chisholm in New York City and Bishop Sullivan lay hands on Christian Garcia & Kevin Menard in Chicago, we believed that they had received the grace from God to serve as priests.
And today, [names], when you come forward to receive the Eucharist for the first time, you will see — like all of us — bread and wine, but we hope that you will believe — like all of us — that Jesus Christ is fully, truly present: body and blood, soul and divinity.
As St. Augustine said: with each sacrament, we see one thing, but we believe another. But we recognize that God’s grace is present to us in many other ways, too. When some people see a rainbow, they believe in God’s promise to care for creation. It’s been argued that the Church itself is the ultimate sacrament: our hope is that when people see the Church in action, they believe that Jesus Christ is present in our world.
And that’s what all our readings are about today: how we as a Church reflect Jesus’ loving presence in the world. Immediately after washing the apostles’ feet, Jesus tells them: “This is how all will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.” The Jews rejoice that the Greeks are beginning to join them in the Christian community thanks to the missionary ministry of Barnabas and Paul. John of Patmos believes that God has made all things new when he sees a new heaven being wedded to a new earth.
As contradictory as it sounds, the Church better reflects the radical, inclusive love of Jesus when it seems as if there is nothing else that brings us together. At the time of Jesus, Jews had nothing in common with Greeks. Heaven was thought to be separate from earth. And Jesus, on the night before he died, knowing all that was about to happen, washed the feet of Judas Iscariot.
The community of Old St. Mary’s is a sacrament. This community is one. This is a place where our students see their friends, catechists, and teachers, but believe in Jesus’ unconditional love. When we see the rich and the poor together, when we see Democrats and Republicans side by side, when we see sinners and saints alike, we at Old St. Mary’s believe that we are bound by the unconditional love of Jesus Christ. And if you haven’t experienced this sense of unconditional love in our community yet, please resolve to hang out here more often and get more involved. For the past 4 weeks, the bulletin listed 7 opportunities to serve within this community. [See p. 5 of our May 11 bulletin.] You can also find them on the bulletin board in the commons.
Beloved, behold! God makes all things new. We may not have had the opportunity to be instructed in the faith by Barnabas or Paul, but we have inherited their legacy. Even though we often fall short of the ideal of loving one another as God loves us – and even though some of us have lived in the past like Augustine before he was a saint – we strengthen one another in the faith.
Let us love one another, for love is of God. And if we see people loving one another, we will eventually believe that God loves us, too.