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Bishop's Homily for the Sixth Sunday of Easter

May 25, 2025

(Yuri A / Shutterstock.com)

Homily of the Most Reverend Larry Silva, Bishop of Honolulu
[St. Philomena Church, Honolulu (Confirmation & First Communion), Holy Trinity Church, Honolulu (Confirmation & First Communion), St. Michael Church, Waialua (Confirmation & First Communion)]

“I am glad you’re leaving” does not sound like something very nice to say to a person.  It sounds mean, as if you do not like the person you are talking to.  But Jesus tells his disciples they should be glad he is leaving and going to his Father.  It was not because he did not want to be with them, but because he wanted to be with them in a much better way.

At this time of graduation, we are glad the students are leaving the school, not because we don’t like them, but because we are happy that they have accomplished what they have accomplished and are moving forward to accomplish even more.  When a young person moves out of his or her parents’ house, there is a sadness, but also a joy that the young person has grown up and matured and can now set up another household.

On the night before he died, Jesus warns his disciples that he is leaving them to go to his heavenly Father, and they are sad, because they do not want to face the day when they can no longer hear his voice or embrace him. But after he left and died, he rose from the dead, leaving the tomb and instead locking death and sin in the tomb.  He opened not just the tomb, but our hearts, so that he could send us the Holy Spirit to live with us forever.  That Holy Spirit gave them the ability to not let their hearts be troubled, even when they experienced persecution and rejection because of their faith in Jesus.  That is the same Holy Spirit Jesus is giving to you today in the sacrament of Confirmation.  It does not mean that your life will be any easier that someone who does not receive the Holy Spirit.  You may still experience suffering, rejection, and death.  But the Holy Spirit will give you his gifts of wisdom, understanding, courage and all the others, so that no matter what happens you can still be joyful.  Because Jesus left us and ascended into heaven, he opened heaven for us and poured out the Spirit of God himself upon us, so that we could live even more fully the life of God’s love.

But Jesus also left us so that he could give himself to us in a different way –even a better way!  It is one thing to be able to see and hear someone you love, and we know how much that means to us.  But now Jesus gives himself to us as food and drink, so that we not just see and hear him, but so that he can live within us and never abandon us.  His leaving us in the flesh enabled him to give himself to us in the most intimate and holy communion we could possibly imagine, and that is the gift you will receive for the first time today!

We are, of course, happy to see you here in church, and we hope to see you here every Sunday – and more often, if possible, because this is where you can physically encounter the risen Jesus so intimately that he lives in you.  And even though he is happy you are here, he will be happy to see you leave, too, because when he is in you, he will be able to go everywhere you go – to your home, your school, your sports teams, dance classes, and wherever you go.  He will be able to show his love to even more people through you so that he can touch them, too, with his healing and care and call them to also have this most intimate encounter with him.

We are glad you are here, because you are going to receive the most amazing gifts you can imagine, the gifts of the Holy Spirit and the gift of Jesus himself, Body and Blood, Soul and Divinity.  But we will also be glad to see you leave from here, so that you can share this incredible love of God everywhere you go and share his love with everyone you meet.