Tuesday, May 12, 2015

On the Tuesday after Easter 5

Dear Fathers, Friends in Christ, 

Acts 16:22-34
 Psalm 138:1-2ab, 2cde-3, 7c-8
 John 16:5-11




Once, when I was an Ordinand, I heard of a student who was called back to the hospital because he had not said goodbye well to one of the patients. The story made a strong impression on me of how important it is to say goodbye well.

 In today's gospel, Jesus continues His goodbye by acknowledging their grief. Once He has done so, He then moves on to the truth of the matter that it is better that He go, in order for the Advocate to come.

 From Jesus, we can thus learn how to say goodbye by acknowledging the grief of those we leave behind, and also asserting the truth that the journey that has brought us into their lives is now taking us out of them, so that both we, and they, can continue to remain faithful to the journey of us all, of returning to God. As Jesus came from the Father and returned to Him, so have we come from God and are called to see our life's journey as a return to Him. 

Father Ed Bakker,
Anglican Catholic Church / Original Province 
Mission of Saint Aidan of Lindisfarne 
Bendigo,Australia 

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