This last Sunday of the Easter season falls between the Ascension of the Lord and Pentecost.

Our first reading from the book of Acts records a time of great tension for the Apostles.  They felt abandoned and uncertain after witnessing Jesus slowly fade from sight into the heavens. With nervous uncertainty they huddled closely around Jesus’ mother Mary in that same Upper Room where the Master had first appeared to them following His Resurrection. Obedient to his instructions, they gathered there to pray while awaiting the coming of the Holy Spirit. 

First, however, they felt it necessary to round out their numbers again to twelve.  We may well wonder why the number twelve was so important.  Scholars are generally in agreement that Jesus Himself carefully chose twelve to fulfill the mission of the Twelve Tribes of Israel. In any case, the Holy Spirit chose Matthias.  In choosing Matthias, they established a key criterion for an apostle. He must have accompanied the others the whole time, and have been a witness to the Resurrection.

Listeners to the Gospel would be strongly drawn to believe those who, with their own eyes, had seen Jesus alive in His own body.  Even Thomas had believed when he saw the wounds of His Lord and Saviour. The Gospel continues from last week the farewell address of Jesus at the Last Supper. “Consecrate them in the truth”, Jesus prays. 

All successors of the apostles are so consecrated.  Truth is the one great divine force which will assure the unity of the infant church. “One faith, one Lord, one Baptism” binds all who would be faithful branches on the Vine which is Christ. We have seen through the ages from the beginning how deviation from Christ’s teaching tears asunder the solidarity of one Church.

Christian bodies generally separate from this unity on one or another point of doctrine.  The physical unity of Christ’s church will only be restored when there is a return to consensus on all aspects of the “deposit of faith”. 
Today’s second reading from the first letter of John provides the key to unity in truth and adherence to authority through the great prayer of Jesus to “remain in my love”.

Although one third of the world’s population is Christian, there are over thirty thousand different ways in which they interpret the truths that Jesus taught!  How on earth will there ever be total unity in His Church? It will only come about through a very courageous living out of that command of the Lord to “love one another”.

May Christ this Pentecost help all Christians to be consecrated in the unity of Love and Truth!