7th Sunday of Easter 2026
On Ascension Thursday, our Lord Jesus Christ returned to the Father. On the same day, He commissioned His Apostles to preach the Gospel everywhere. Just like a child who accompanies his father to the airport, only to discover that his father is traveling without any trace of his date of arrival, they felt sad that their Master would be gone so long before coming back.
Here is the profound psychological mystery: when the world loses something, it falls into a pit of pique, but when the Apostles left the Mount of Olives, they returned with great joy. There was no divine resentment that the Master had left them to face the wolves of the world alone.
The first reading tells us that they returned to Jerusalem and to the Upper Room.
THE UPPER ROOM
The Upper Room of the Soul Why return to the Upper Room? Because you cannot receive the fire of Heaven in the basement of worldly anxieties. The Apostles were in a state of "holy suspense." They were not out campaigning or organizing committees; they were constantly devoting themselves to prayer.
The world today thinks prayer is an escape from reality. No! Prayer is attachment to Reality. It is the breathing in of God so that we may breathe out love to our neighbors. In the Upper Room, they did not gather to discuss strategy; they gathered to dissolve their self-will. Perhaps in that room, Peter looked at his own hands—the hands that had warmed themselves beside the fire of betrayal during the crucifixion. John looked at the space next to him, still feeling the weight of the Savior’s breast where he had leaned at the Last Supper. They were a symphony of regrets being tuned by divine grace. The Upper Room was the first place on earth where men forgot themselves because they were consumed by Someone else (Christ).
The Apostles returned to the Upper Room because they knew a profound truth: "No man can conquer the world for God until he has first allowed God to conquer him." The Apostles knelt in expectation; they knew that before the wind of the Spirit could blow through the streets of Jerusalem, it had to first sweep clean the chambers of their hearts.
In that room was Mary, the Mother of Jesus. She who first brought Him into the world in Bethlehem was there to help the Church bring Him into the world at Pentecost, which is for the glory of God—the same glory that Christ portrayed in the Gospel in His priestly prayer, saying: "Father, the hour has come; glorify your Son."
THE GLORY
What is this "glory"? To the world, glory is a spotlight, a crown of gold, or a headline in the paper. But to Christ, glory is the Cross. The Cross is the moment when Love is poured out completely. He asks for glory so that He may give us Eternal Life.
THE CROSS
St. Peter captured the meaning of that Cross as he tells us, "Rejoice insofar as you share Christ's sufferings." This sounds like madness to the modern mind. We spend billions to avoid a headache, yet Peter tells us to be glad when we suffer for the Name.
Why? Because if the world hates you, it is because you are no longer "of" the world. The shadow of the Cross falling across your life is the surest sign that you are standing in the Light of Christ. If you are never criticized for your faith, perhaps it is because your faith has become invisible. God puts us into the furnace of trial not to destroy us, but to consume our selfishness, so that when He looks at our souls, He sees the reflection of His Divine Son, Jesus Christ.
I therefore urge you to return to your own Upper Room. Let us not spend our time only on things that vanish in no distant time, but with love and confidence, glory in Christ alone.
God bless you!
Rev. Fr. Emmanuel Igwe, HFFBY