6th Sunday of Easter (2024)

Since Easter Sunday, the theme of our homilies has been Dream Big, Act Small. Today is the last in that series. The purpose of the homilies has been to encourage everyone to imitate the members of the early Church. The Church started as a small group of Jesus’ followers who had grand plans to spread Jesus’ gospel. They worked to fulfill those plans by each disciple becoming an influencer doing small acts to help share Jesus’ message with their community. That is how we can share our love of Jesus with others. We work at being influencers. 

An influencer is someone who is a force for a cause. They work to get others to commit to an action, behavior, or opinion. They try to impact others' thinking to produce a desired outcome or experience. Social media has become fertile ground for influencers' efforts. 

Jesus of Nazareth was the greatest influencer to have ever lived. Today, two thousand years after his death, he is still the most influential person ever. That is surprising because he never wrote a book, commanded an army, held high public office, or founded a multinational corporation. 

Jesus was such a tremendous influencer because he founded a movement. Jesus says in today’s gospel that he has transformed his from being slaves into a new status as friends. His disciples are all called to be influencers through the power of the Holy Spirit.

The early Church used a Greek word, Ecclesia, to describe their movement. An Ecclesia is a group of people coming together on behalf of the larger community to influence it. An Ecclesia’s purpose wasn’t to serve its insiders but outsiders. Christians need that to be our viewpoint. Remember, the Church isn’t a clubhouse for Catholics but a home for all seeking a relationship with Jesus.  

While the early Christians chose to call themselves an ecclesia, they intended to be much more than just a group of people doing good works and helping others. They wanted to be more than a social welfare group. They envisioned being people organized as the presence of the living Christ in the world. As John’s Gospel tells us, they intended to be branches on the living vine of Jesus Christ. The first Christians thought of themselves as a vehicle for the saving power of God to reach out to the whole world. They wanted Jesus’ teachings, healing, and love to transform all the earth into the Kingdom of God embodied by Jesus during his lifetime. The early Church wanted as deep a relationship with God, the Father, as Jesus had. They desired to represent Jesus Christ’s presence alive and living in our world. Our reflection during the Easter Season is to recall and rededicate ourselves as Jesus’ disciples and to continue that mission. 

Last week, we discussed how to influence others by encouraging them. If we breathe, then we desire encouragement. Encouragement energizes us to continue our course of action. This week, I received a great dose of encouragement. We kicked off our small faith-sharing groups. More than fifty parishioners are participating, which is a good start for our parish. We want every parishioner to get involved with a small group because we want to make our parish a church of small groups and not just a church with small groups. 

This week, I want to help you consider the most effective way to influence others. It is to love them. Love takes many forms. It can be romantic love, an affinity with another person, or concern for our neighbor. Loving others gives us the most significant opportunity to be influential with them. 

Organizations, institutions, systems and structures, businesses and bureaucracies can’t love like a human being can love. These often get in the way of love. Only people can authentically love one another. Love flows out of personal relationships. We all are desperate for love. When we receive it, it dramatically impacts us and significantly influences our thoughts and actions. Unfortunately, life can get in the way of loving as we wish. We are busy, preoccupied with other obligations, and feel overextended so much that we forget to think about love.  

Since it is so hard to love those closest to us, we begin to ask why I should burden myself with sharing love for my employees, colleagues, friends, or classmates. Let me alone to live my own life, minding my own business, and caring for those for whom I’m responsible. Isn’t that enough? The problem with that kind of outlook is that it is all about you. To live a fulfilling life, we need to broaden our perspective. We must reach beyond ourselves. 

In today’s gospel, we hear how Jesus set an example for loving others in his preaching and healing ministry. At the Last Supper, the evangelist John tells us Jesus passed on to his Apostles the secret of his ability to love them and instructed them to do the same.

John wrote that Jesus told them:

“As the Father loves me,

so also I love you. Remain in my love.”

Jesus charged the Ecclesia or Church with living out the example of sharing love in the image and example of the love shared by Jesus the Son and God the Father. The disciples tried to do that, and they impressed the pagans so much the pagans remarked, “See how they love one another.” The disciples were able to influence them to want to follow Jesus.  

The power to love comes from our relationship with and connection to Jesus. Prayer and reflection on Jesus’ love for us make us want to imitate him and his good works, but Christianity is much more than carrying out good deeds. A personal relationship with Jesus developed through prayer time with him is the foundation for our faith. It gives us the power and ability to perform good and great things and the desire to love even the unlovable. 

The annual Fall River Diocese’s Catholic Appeal, kicked off this week, allows us to share our love with many the world regards as unlovable. Parishioners should have recently received my letter, a pledge card, and a brochure encouraging your generosity towards the Appeal. We conduct this 83rd Catholic Appeal during our diocese’s 120th Anniversary Year. 

The theme of the 2024 Catholic Appeal is “Renew the Face of the Earth.” It is an appropriate Easter theme and balances well with our need to act as influencers for Jesus and His Church. The Appeal is the principal funding source for many of the diocese’s agencies of charity and evangelization. It helps fund our Church’s efforts to influence some of the many important issues we face today. 

It provides money for activities such as Catholic schools. Outreach and Legal Services for our immigrant community and citizenship preparation programs for them are funded through donations to the Appeal. The essential need for affordable housing is another major concern for Catholics, and Appeal funding addresses this, too. Funding for Community Action for Better Housing, homeless shelters like St. Joseph’s House in Hyannis, and transitional housing at St. Clare’s House in Centerville are Appeal recipients. Respect for Life efforts and support for families are also Appeal beneficiaries. 

In addition to such works of charity, evangelization is a focus of the Catholic Appeal. It funds campus ministry at 4Cs, other colleges in our diocese, and initiatives for youth and young adults. The work of the Permanent Diaconate, the Vocations Office, spiritual support for active clergy, and retired and infirm priests are all beneficiaries of Appeal funding. The apostolates and ministries supported by our Catholic Appeal allow our local Church to significantly influence life in our area. Your Catholic Appeal gift makes you an influencer for Jesus. 

Many of our parishioners have been incredibly blessed materially by God. I know I have been. Last year, Holy Redeemer parishioners donated almost $56,000 to the Appeal. We want to increase donations by at least 5% this year. Please read over your Catholic Appeal mailing, pray over your gift, and make it a sacrificial one that really impacts your generosity. Make it a gesture of your love for Jesus, your needy neighbors, and your desire to be an influencer for God.

Today, Jesus said in our gospel reading:

"This is my commandment: love one another as I have loved you.

No one has greater love than this, to lay down one’s life for one’s friends."

I believe the Catholic Appeal offers such an opportunity to influence our community through the practice of love. For that reason, except for Holy Redeemer Parish, I make the Appeal recipient of my largest charitable donation of 2.5% of my income. Jesus gives us everything; can’t we give a small portion of our material wealth to influence our world on behalf of Jesus’ Church?

The purpose of Jesus’ ministry is to bring us joy. It is what Jesus wants us to receive from life the most. Loving generosity is one of the crucial ways we grow in joy. Seeing the benefits received by those subject to our largess brings us joy and satisfaction. 

Jesus tells us it is in our strategic interest to be loving and generous. Jesus knows what he is talking about. Jesus followed the Father’s will and shared love with those he encountered regardless of their sinfulness or background. He followed the commandment of love, which helped grow his relationship with God. It will benefit our relationship with God, too. 

In practicing love for our neighbor, Jesus doesn’t ask of us anything he isn’t willing to do for us. He laid down his life on the cross for us and offers it again every time we celebrate the Eucharist. We must be willing to do the same out of love for our neighbors. Loving our neighbor must start as a discipline. It won’t come naturally to us, but if we are persistent, it will become valuable for us, and we will feel great joy. 

All too often, we are cautious and hesitant to share love. As children, we freely offer our love to others, even strangers. We hold back offering love generously as we get older. A couple of summers ago, I witnessed this play out. One family, a summer resident on Highland Avenue, had two male cousins. The older one was about 8-10, and the younger one was only about 5 or 6. The young one was just learning to ride a bike. The two peddled their bikes up and down the street for a couple of weeks. One afternoon, the older boy was leading the younger on a ride. As the young boy franticly peddled to keep up, he called out to his cousin. “I love you, Danny.” He said it with such heartfelt sincerity that it was apparent the younger boy understood; the older one was generous to play with him despite him being much younger, and he appreciated it. After a slight pause, the older boy responded, “I love you too, Sam.”  The incident gave me a lump in my throat. It was heartwarming to hear the little one express love so freely, but I was a little sad, recognizing the older one had hesitated a bit and was beginning to be reserved about expressing his feelings of love. 

Love is the willingness to be present to others. We need to love everyone we can, every time we can, and in every way we can because, in the end, we won’t be taking any of our material belongings with us to the judgment. We will only be carrying the love we have shown and the love we have shared.