Both this Sunday's readings and my homily pick up right where they left off last week. All are continuous: Acts of Apostles last had Stephen and the deacons being commissioned, and now Deacon Philip is in Samaria as they move out after Stephen was killed. 1st Peter is one chapter later. And Jesus picks up again just two lines later in John 14 at the Last Supper.
Last week Jesus focused on opening up the relation of the Father and the Son. And so the focus of the homily was on them and how to picture their orientation toward each other and their distinct roles toward us. This week Jesus talks a lot about how he will ask the Father, and the Father will send the Advocate to them in Jesus' name. So this homily explains, first, what the Spirit does for us and, second, how the Christian life is about us being inserted into the inner workings of the Trinity: Being incorporated into, and united with, Jesus. Loving and serving the Father because we are ourselves in the Son. The Spirit freeing us and then fusing us to Jesus, and us going out in the power of the Spirit to preach, serve, and strive, with confidence in the Spirit's aid.
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