Since June 24 falls on a Sunday this year, the Church has the opportunity for a more intense celebration of the birth of John the Baptist, who is often described as the last of the Old Testament prophets and the bridge between Judaism and Christianity. More commonly, John is known as the “precursor” of our Lord Jesus Christ. All the Gospels report John’s basic message: Repent, the kingdom is near at hand. One greater than I is coming.

In today’s Gospel, Jesus is presented to us as the master storyteller. He loved to use parables as a tool for comparing one thing to something else. In most of his parables, Jesus revealed who God is by comparing God’s essence or actions with something familiar to his listeners.

Today’s liturgy is full of promises. The reading from Genesis promises a final triumph over the power of sin and a return to a new creation. The reading from Second Corinthians promises that all who follow Christ will have to struggle. It also promises, however, that we can persevere if we but recognize that Christ is within us, renewing us daily, and giving us the courage and the strength we need to endure. The Gospel promises that doing God’s will makes us “family” with Jesus, who forgives all sin and triumphs over evil.

On this solemnity, we focus our attention on the Body and Blood of Christ. We listen to the story of the renewal of the old covenant, which Moses sealed by splashing the blood of animals on the altar of sacrifice, as well as on the people. Jesus, whose blood is the blood of the new covenant, shed that precious blood on the cross, saving us from sin and promising us everlasting life.

Today is a day simply to ponder the fact that in baptism we were claimed by God: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. The first reading from Deuteronomy prompts us to fix in our hearts the truth that God is the Lord of both heaven and earth and there is no other god. Saint Paul reminds us that, because we received the Spirit of adoption in baptism, we are now children of God.

Fifty days after Easter Sunday we celebrate the fulfillment of all God’s promises in the feast of Pentecost, a feast that has sometimes been called the birthday of the church. One last time we are reminded that we Christians have received the Holy Spirit, not for our own benefit, but to enable us to follow our Christian vocation.

Today we celebrate Christ’s ascension into heaven and his commissioning of the disciples to carry on his mission in the world. First, we hear Luke’s description of those events in the opening verses of the Acts of the Apostles. Next, we hear words of encouragement and guidance from the Letter to the Ephesians. Finally, we hear Mark’s account of the Ascension, foretelling the mighty words and acts the Christian community would do in Jesus’ name.

In the Gospel for the Sixth Sunday of Easter we are met with an extraordinary challenge: Jesus commands us to “love one another as I love you” (John 15:12). The letter from John echoes this command. Of course, we are to love those in our family, those we work with, those we like. But the scriptures make clear that we are also to love those we never notice, those we purposely avoid, and even those we are tempted to despise.

The Gospel and second reading for this Fifth Sunday of Easter emphasize the need for us to remain in Christ, and he in us. This shared life finds expression in the image of the one vine and many branches.

Some city teenagers often scorn and reject farm kids. Yet it’s no exaggeration to say that humanity owes its life to farmers who care for the world’scrops and livestock. This week’s scriptures remind us that Jesus was as rejected as a shepherd, a farm boy, yet we owe our very lives to him.

Throughout the Easter season, all three of the Sunday readings are taken from the New Testament—the Christian scriptures. Together they explore what it means to believe in Jesus as the Christ, the One who fulfilled the prophecies of the Jewish scriptures.

It is not often that the author of one of the books of the Bible comes right out and tells us directly why he is writing what he is writing. In this Sunday’s Gospel reading, taken from the conclusion of John’s Gospel, the author tells us that he has chosen to record these events so “that you may come to believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that through this belief you may have life in his name” (20:31).

On Easter morning everything—the spring weather, the flowers, birds, and butterflies, the people around us in their finery, the beautiful liturgyand music—everything seems to bear witness that Jesus Christ is risen today! Like the eyewitness accounts in today’s scriptures, the glorious and joyfullife all around us helps us to believe the good news of the Resurrection and sing “Alleluia!”