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Two-Minute Homily by Fr John Fowles for the Fifth Sunday of Easter 2024. “The Holy Spirit comes forth from the nature of Christ and into our nature through the sacraments of His Church.”

• Two-Minute Homily Transcript

  Two-Minute Homily Transcript

  Author: Archdiocese of Brisbane

  
  “Remain in my love.” “I am the vine, you are the branches.” These words remind us of the Mystical Body of Christ having God as the head and us being parts of this Body. Jesus wants us to make our home in Him, just as He makes His in us. The word ‘religion’ means ‘to bond together again’. The work of religion moves us with care and concern for others, it takes us beyond our own personal selves into the Church’s all-encompassing care for the whole world. The world as we know it is quite broken and fractured. And here in our country, diversity is celebrated over unity.

  So how are we going to foster religious living which is communal, when everyone is encouraged to be different and diverse? Left to our own devices, that would be impossible. But with God, all things are possible. God gave us His Son, Jesus and his Holy Spirit to empower us, to heal our fractured and broken existence, and return our world healed and restored back into His dominion. We cannot do it ourselves. Without the power of gifts of God’s Holy Spirit we will accomplish nothing. We must acknowledge that we are the branches, not the vine.

  We have, powers that come from God, to heal, redeem, and sanctify, not only our own individual lives, but the world around us. We can do that only as the members of the Universal Church. Ours is a commonly shared life of faith, in the life and faith of Jesus Christ. Our sanctity, our wholeness, and our holiness are not ours; it is Christ’s. By way of the grace of the sacraments, we incorporate our lives into His life. The Holy Spirit comes forth from the nature of Christ and into our nature through the sacraments of His Church.

  When Jesus told the disciples to feed the crowd of five thousand, they exclaimed, “Lord, all we have is five barley loaves and two fish. What can we accomplish with that?” The answer, of course, is that left to us we can accomplish little, if anything. We need the spiritual power that comes from God. We have God’s Presence living within us when we receive the Body and Blood of His Son Jesus Christ. Only then, can the power of the Holy Spirit recreate God’s life anew in each of us. This is what Jesus means when He said, “remain in my love.”