Reflection for Sunday – June 1, 2025

Gloria UlterinoSunday Readings Homilies

Readings: Acts 7: 55-60; Revelation 22: 12-14, 16-17, 20; John 20-26 
Preacher: Gloria Ulterino

I used to go into prison on a regular basis.  You see, I was invited there to preach every month by a good friend, a deacon in our local Church.  He thought I’d love it.  And I did!  It was always safe.  And the prisoners generally responded as if I had brought them something helpful.  

Looking back on the experience, I couldn’t help but reflect on all the ways in which we are moved by God from the edges of our lives to the center.  At this point in time, many of us who are Catholic have been reflecting on good Pope Francis, who recently died on April 21st.  Indeed, he ministered to the very end at the margins of life.  Bringing a word of comfort and hope to some who needed it most. 

What do we most remember about this beloved Pope?  As I write this, I’m responding to a recent article in America magazine (June 2025).  While it appears that the Pope’s imprecision about doctrine was a concern to a few, his love of people—especially those who are at the margins of life—was what really mattered to him.  (Doesn’t that sound a bit like Jesus?)  For example, he prioritized the “mercy at the heart of the Gospel.”  Just like Jesus, he didn’t teach from a distance, but always up close and personal. 

Furthermore—and this I loved—Francis made it a practice to enter into dialogue with people, all people, not just the neat and tidy ones.  As the authors (professors David Albertson and Jason Blakely) pointed out, good scholarship is always important.  But it must never come at the expense of “opening the door to grace.” 

For Pope Francis, true grace (the realm of God) is meant to “transform” us.  It is meant to offer us much-needed mercy and healing.  This means that Francis was willing to enter into people’s “open questions,” willing to first enter into friendship with others as a prelude to learning.  At the beginning of his reign, back in 2013, Pope Francis had declared: “I prefer a church which is bruised, hurting and dirty because it has been out on the streets, rather than a church which is unhealthy from being confined and from clinging to its own security.”  Indeed, he was true to his word!

 Why does this matter to us, today?  As Catholic followers of Jesus?  Aren’t we often asked, when applying for a job or something else, to list our experience?  To list what we’ve learned to do well?  This matters, of course, for it is certainly one way of describing the values we bring to any new endeavor.  And yet, don’t we also know what it is that we have learned from our mistakes?  From taking the edges of our experiences and bringing them to the very center of our lives by naming how we have grown through them and because of them?

Today’s Second Reading is taken from the Book of Revelation.  From the very last chapter of that Book, (chapter 22, verses 12-14, 16-17, and 20).  In truth, it is taken from the very conclusion of our entire New Testament!  The author is yearning for all of us to recognize the coming of the Christ we have come to know, love, and serve.  The Alpha and Omega!  The One to whom we owe everything.  The Very Beginning and End of our very lives!  And our response?  Hopefully— along with the whole Church—it will be, “Come. Come, O Jesus, come!”  We know how very much we long for you!  How very much we need you!  How very much You have given to us!  How very much we love you!  Please, O Savior of our Lives, Come!  Be with us always!  Amen!

Gloria Ulterino
Latest posts by Gloria Ulterino (see all)
Share