5 June 2014
Memorial of Saint Boniface, Bishop and Martyr
If we wanted to give this week in the Church’s year a title, an appropriate one might be the Week of the Upper Room. The week begins with the disciples gathered around Mary in the Upper Room, praying until they receive their commission. Most of the subsequent gospels are taken from the Farewell Discourse, which John places in the Upper Room at the Last Supper. What can we learn from the Upper Room?
One of the most powerful truths we can learn is the tremendous apostolic power that results when we place our lives within the life of God. God, who is Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, possesses an eternal, living vitality. When Jesus says that he is in the Father, and the Father in him, he testifies to an inexhaustible relationship that drives his every action. Jesus does what the Father commands, and does nothing apart from the Father. Because he lives in this relationship, his words and actions are powerful.
Jesus wants to give this same relationship to us, and he proclaims this in the Upper Room. We in him and he in the Father. There are many good things we can do for Jesus, but this is not the same as living within the life of God. To live in the life of God means first to receive the love that the Father has for us and then to accomplish the specific task we are assigned.
The Upper Room has open doors. We may enter to receive what God offers. But we can also depart from that room, out into the world where the Father sends us.