Welcoming the Holy
Here we invite you to take time for yourself in personal prayer. The following spiritual reflection offers words and images which we hope will evoke for you an experience of God.
By: Sister Joan Sobala
“I will not leave you orphaned.” John 14.10
Opening Prayer
Father of Jesus, as we celebrate the season of Your Son’s resurrection, we are called to rejoice – to make a joyful noise to you, to sing the glory of your name. As we look around us, we say with the psalmist “How awesome are your deeds!” (PS. 66.3a) I find Eastertime less tangible as in some ways, harder than Lent. But You give us the Risen Lord’s presence, wherever we are. Let us look, see, and rejoice in Him. We pray through the power of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
Reflection
In Jesus’ time, the Samaritans were, in a sense, orphans. They had long ago forfeited their Jewish birthright by intermarrying with foreigners. They had diluted the pure faith of Israel. As a consequence, the Jewish people had little to do with the Samaritans. The Jews even avoided the short route from north to south. Little by little, with Jesus, the Samaritans lost their sense of being adrift – orphaned from the larger community. Along came Philip, to whom, in this early time after Jesus’ Ascension, the Samaritans listened attentively. They accepted Philip’s teaching with enthusiasm. This lively bunch was baptized, and awaited the arrival of Peter and John, who laid their hands on the Samaritans, so that they might receive the Holy Spirit.
As Jesus said before his passion: I will not leave you orphans. If we internalize this message, if it seeps into us, we become genuinely humbled, enabled and loving. The Spirit will come to us. That is the promise. In turn, we are to welcome others. The life of the Spirit in us goes on into the lives of others.
Closing Prayer
Creator God, You gave Your Son to be one with us and we are grateful for how You have allowed us to see and experience him. With him, open the way for us to come to You. Give us the energy to journey with him into the company of newcomers who are likewise called in faith, so that with Christ on Brother and Lord, we pass on with him from the cross, to the tomb and finally, to new life. Holy One, may Your Spirit be our light along the way. Amen.
