Fourth Sunday of Easter

Dear Friends,

In today’s Gospel, Jesus gives us insights on not only His relationship to us but also His relationship with God, the Father. Both are incredibly intimate relationships. Jesus says, “My sheep hear my voice; I know them and they follow me.” How beautiful to reflect on how Jesus knows us! The more time that we spend with God in prayer, in particular with Scripture, the better we will become attune to His voice. Even amidst all the other voices of this world, even if His voice is just a whisper, we will know His voice if we spend time with Him.

Jesus also tells us: “The Father and I are one”. Having become a mother in the past year, these words have new meaning for me. The closeness that a parent feels with their child is hard to describe. Holding my baby, especially the first few weeks, it did feel very much that we were one. My heart now lives outside of my body, in this little tiny person. There’s nothing like the intimacy of a parent and a child. Reflecting on the love between God, the Father, and God, the Son, invites us to desire Heaven and to enter into that eternal exchange of love. The ones who taught us how to love are inviting us to experience a love even more pure than we’ve ever known. The love that we have known on this Earth is only a foretaste of the love of the Trinity. How amazing to think that it gets even better! As a new mom, it’s hard for me to imagine! My heart is already bursting. St. Therese talks about how each of our hearts are like a chalice that will be filled to the brim in Heaven with God’s love. The deeper the chalice, the more love we can experience! Every heart is different. I like to believe that with every deep sorrow or deep joy, our hearts expand and our chalice gets a little bigger.

Let us pray that we can receive more of God’s love everyday and prepare to enter into the love between Jesus and the Father when we are one day called to the Heavenly Kingdom.

-Amy Bishop, Development Manager