1 June 2025 – 7th Sunday of Easter
Acts 7:55-60; Rev 22:12...20; Jn 17:20-26
Homily
Communication is essential to human beings, whose social dimension is a fundamental part of their nature. Nowadays, not only does communication retain all the importance it has always had in human life, but it has also been taken over, in a way, by those who exercise or want to exercise power. Not so many years ago, power in society was in the hands of those who controlled money or ‘capital’. Today, it is in the hands of those who control communication. It is therefore important to reflect on the meaning of communication in God's plan. Did Jesus not send his disciples to communicate His message to all nations? What is the meaning of this communication? Today's biblical texts for the Eucharist shed light on this.
In the first reading, taken from the Acts of the Apostles, we encounter two great ‘communicators,’ Stephen and Paul. Let us first recall the context: immediately after Jesus' death and resurrection, or in any case after Pentecost, the Apostles began to preach the Gospel in Jewish circles in Jerusalem and quickly made converts, not only among the Jews but also among sympathetic Greeks. The various services to be rendered to this large and diverse community led the Apostles to establish deacons. Stephen is one of these deacons, who is not content to serve at tables, but who performs miracles and signs among the people. Some receive his message, others argue with him but cannot resist his wisdom. False rumours were then spread about him – another dimension of communication; today we would call it ‘fake news’ – he was falsely accused, and he had to appear before the Sanhedrin court.
Stephen's long speech initially pleased the people, who felt flattered as the chosen people. But when he challenges and accuses them, his listeners immediately decide to get rid of him. And it is through his very death that Stephen delivers his last and strongest message. As his mission comes to an abrupt end, another begins, that of a young man named Saul, who is at least indirectly involved in Stephen's death.
Once converted, Paul tried the techniques of human wisdom to ‘sell’ the message of Christ. In Athens, he became complacent: ‘Athenians, you are the most religious of men... I have seen among you a statue dedicated to the unknown God’ and, quoting pagan poets, he said to them: ‘This unknown God, I have come to proclaim to you’. But this technique did not work at all, and Paul returned to the other technique, that of the ‘foolishness of the cross.’ From his experience, we must learn that Christ's message is not a product that can be ‘sold.’ If that were the case, we would have to adapt the Gospel to the laws of the market, that is, constantly rework Christ's message so that it corresponds to what people expect and desire, or create large collective phenomena of acceptance of the message, as is done in the electoral conventions of the major political parties. We cannot do this with the Word of God, whether we preach it verbally or through our lives, according to our respective vocations.
Today's Gospel is the most beautiful example of Jesus' communication: first, his communication with His Father in His great prayer at the Last Supper, then shared with His disciples during that same meal. These ‘communications’ of Jesus revolve around two themes: love and unity. These two themes are interrelated and inseparable.
The ultimate vocation of all humanity is to be one again in God. The ultimate vocation of Jesus' disciples is to be ‘one’ in love, so that the world may perceive their message and believe. And we all know that there is no love or unity without communication and sharing. This is the purpose of Jesus' prayer for the unity of His disciples. Such unity is not simply conformity to the same structures; it is first and foremost sharing and reciprocity: ‘you in me and I in you’.
This is undoubtedly a very accurate way of distinguishing constructive forms of communication from destructive ones. The former engender love and unity and come from God. What engenders division and perpetuates hatred comes from the power of darkness.
All of this is true of our daily communication with one another. But it is also true of global communication. Few of us have the opportunity to use the mass media to shape public opinion – or win an election! But we are all exposed to it. And it is our responsibility to determine its effect on us by exposing ourselves to it with discernment. This morning's Gospel gives us an infallible criterion for this discernment: Everything that promotes unity, cooperation, understanding and love between individuals, groups and nations comes from God. Everything that creates or maintains divisions, mistrust, fear and confrontation comes from the Power of Darkness.
Just as we must constantly choose between God and Mammon, so too must we constantly choose between communication as a form of love and communication as an element of domination.
Armand VEILLEUX