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Two-Minute Homily by Fr Wrex Woolnough for the Fifth Sunday of Easter 2023.
“To find the way, we have to work together, trusting in each others’ wisdom and keeping our eye on the final goal which is God.”

• Two-Minute Homily Transcript

  Two-Minute Homily Transcript

  Author: Archdiocese of Brisbane

  I thought it was a joke until I experienced it personally. Driving through the countryside of Ireland and not sure of exactly where I was, I pulled up beside a local who was standing beside his horse and cart and asked him the way to St Kevin’s Church. To which I got the stunning reply, “Well, if I were you, I wouldn’t be starting from here”. I had to bite my tongue to stop myself from laughing out loud! Maybe Thomas and Phillip felt much the same as they asked Jesus which is the way. And maybe Jesus answer is as important to we modern-day disciples who wonder which way the Church should go.

  Perhaps many of us wish that we didn’t have to start from where we are with falling attendances, scandals rocking the Church and a general malaise surrounding institutional religion, if not spirituality in general. But where we are is where we are! So Jesus’ answer is as pertinent today as it was then, “Keep your eye on me. Trust in God still and trust in me.”

  The other readings likewise have some good hints as to how we can help the Church find the way. The first reading reminds us that even the twelve apostles couldn’t do it on their own. They have to appoint deacons to oversee the distribution of goods. Of course, they end up doing a lot more than distributing goods as we hear of both Stephen and Phillip preaching the message as well. So too we need to share the task of proclaiming the Gospel in word and in action with all members of the Church. And it’s not as if we have to do it to help out Father, because Father is so busy.

  The First Letter of Peter reminds us that it is part of our Baptismal calling, “you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a consecrated people, a people set apart.” We all share the priesthood of Christ. When we were baptised, the Chrism Oil was placed on our foreheads and we were told, As Christ was anointed a Priest, a Prophet and a King, so may you live always as a member of his Body, sharing everlasting life.

  The Church is not a bus stop. It is a road, a twisting winding road. And to find the way, we have to work together, trusting in each others’ wisdom and keeping our eye on the final goal which is God.