Sixth Sunday of Easter (C)

May 9, 2010

X Acts 15:1-29  X Rv 21:10-14, 22,23 X    John 14:23-29

Seven years ago, I got a new cell phone that had text messaging capability.  I just “had” to learn how to do txt mssg.   I figured it out and sent my first message to an engineering student.  It was kind of like Samuel Morse on the telegraph.  We all remember the first message - "What hath God wrought?" sent from the old Supreme Court chamber in the United States Capitol to his partner in Baltimore on May 24, 1844.  Mine was equally as memorable:  “I know how to send txt mssg.”  My first message received – “U R nt so dum” 

Do you recall when you first learned to write cursive?   I don’t.  But I remember the process.  Circles and slanted lines.  The good Franciscan sisters taught me “The Palmer Method” of cursive writing.  Practice. Practice. Practice. 

I remember when I wrote my first txtmssg.  However, I do not remember when I first wrote cursive, who was present or where it happened.  It was a process.  It took a long time and lots of practice.  Some say there is a deep connection between WHO we are and HOW we write.  There is more of a connection between our personality and handwriting than there is in typing/txtng. 

Graphology maintains you can determine a person’s qualities and characteristics by analyzing their handwriting.   The strict graphologist believes that by consciously changing your handwriting, you change your personality.  E.g. loops for me – more generous.  You be the judge of whether it worked.

Jesus last week commanded us to love as he has loved us.  This week he speaks about the Father loving those who are obedient to Jesus. 

Love is something like cursive writing.  It isn’t easy.  We practice, practice, practice.  And they suddenly we find that we are loving.  And that changes our personalities, who we are.  The more we love the more we find ourselves growing.  And when we love, we come to discover the peace which Jesus speaks about. It probably comes as much from “practicing” love as it does from loving itself.

Jesus says we have an advocate.  An advocate is one who speaks on our behalf.  A civil attorney is our legal advocate.  The attorney knows the system and tells us what to do and speaks on our behalf.  

The Holy Spirit is the advocate  who guides us in making the loops and slanted lines of learning to love.  Ultimately, it is the Spirit who enables us to love.  It is the Spirit who directs and tells us what to say and do. 

In the Acts of the Apostles,  the early Church discovered they heard the Advocate speaking through one another as they argued about discipline and laws.  Under the guidance of the Holy Spirit they made major changes in how they would live.  We too must be obedient to where the Spirit calls us. We must pray for our shepherds that they listen to the Advocate speaking through one another.   That is part of practicing how to love. 

Annalena Tonelli spent her life working for human dignity and setting up tuberculosis centers in Kenya and Somalia. She was assassinated in October 2003 in Somalia, by rebels who objected to her work among the poor,    Shortly before her death  the Washington Post did a feature story on her.  She was asked what gave her the motivation to devote her life to some of the poorest and sickest people on earth, especially over so long a time when most people give up in despair or exhaustion.

“The reason that more people don’t feel this way [peaceful, joyful, grateful] is that they don’t try hard enough. You have to give time, you have to be patient; and then year after year, you’ll see that what matters is only love. But if you are impatient because people are not grateful or you were full of limits, you will not be happy. You need time.”

Annalena’s quote reminds me of my mother…and of many of you.  To be a parent means you must be patient, caring, and filled with hope.  You need time.

You need time. But then, you’ll see that what matters is only love. Annalena Tonelli said it, and that is what Jesus said to his disciples, too. Keep my commandment, love through thick and thin, day by day, year after year, and you will know the peace of God.

It is like cursive writing.  We practice and practice, and  probably will never be perfect.  But we do come to a peace and abiding joy in what we have done by the Holy Spirit.  Cedar Falls has no need of a temple, for the Spirit of God dwells amongst his people.