6th SUNDAY
OF EASTER
Revelations 21:10-14, 22-23
John 14:23-29
“The Advocate, the Holy Spirit that the Father
will send in my name – he will teach you everything…”
As we commemorate every year the Paschal Mystery of our faith, we know that Christ’s incarnate life on earth comes to an end with his going back to the Father in heaven. But we know, too, that his physical absence does not destroy nor diminish in any way his divine presence in this world. He promises to send the Holy Spirit to take his place and continue the work of redemption. Let us then, try to meditate on this great promise of Christ: the promise of the Holy Spirit.
1. Christ promises his Spirit of love. If we recall, last
Sunday we focused our reflection on Christ’s new commandment of love. We
learned that such commandment of love is the concrete mark of our Christian
faith. We become and are known to be his disciples if and only if we love one
another just as much as Christ has loved us. Today’s gospel this theme of love.
But more profoundly, it expounds its meaning within the context of the
indwelling presence of the Trinity. “Whoever
loves me will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and we will come to
him and made our dwelling with him.”
At first glance, the statement seems to give a picture only of the two persons of the Trinity: Father and Son. But actually, that very love that moves anyone to keep the word of Christ is the Spirit. And this is the Spirit of love. Keeping the word of Christ is no doubt difficult, terribly difficult at that. Even loving – i.e., loving with the love of Christ that makes us in fact keeps his word – is fundamentally the most difficult one. One thing is to say it. Another thing is to do it. Saying is easy; doing is difficult. But we are made Disciples of Christ not because of what we do. Ergo, to be his own is near to impossible without any help. In fact this is what we see in the life of the early church. We remember the apostles themselves and the early Christians as great witnesses to the workings of the Spirit. They were able to do things, which they themselves did not expect to do, only on and after Pentecost.
Besides, since the earliest foundation of Christianity, the Holy Spirit has always been understood as the Spirit of love that proceeds from the Father through the Son and binds the Father and the Son into a perfect unity. This has been the faith of the Father, which has become an essential element of our Catholic Dogma and thus forms a part of the constant teaching of the church. That is why a life in love is a life in the Spirit. An act of charity is a concrete manifestation of the Spirit’s love. And a community inspired by the Spirit of love is indeed reflective of the community of the Triune God. This was practically the kind of community the early Christians had. It was a community reflective of the indwelling of the Trinity. It was a community of love. In short, therefore, Christ’s new commandment of love is made easy because and only because of the Spirit of love. This is why Christ promises his Spirit of love.
2. Christ promises his Spirit of Wisdom. “The Advocate, the Holy Spirit that the father will send in my name – h will teach you everything and remind you all that I told you.” The same spirit of love is the spirit of wisdom (cf Acts 6:3). This spirit of wisdom has long revealed itself even in the Old Testament. It was the wisdom that filled Solomon even as he prayed for it (cf Wisdom 7:7). Thus, the Wisdom of Solomon was beyond compare and his reputation as the wisest king reached even at the farthest south. For indeed, such kind of wisdom comes only from God and cannot be achieved by age and experience (cf Job 32:8ff).
No doubt wisdom is an absolute imperative to God chosen leaders. Much was in fact needed in the case of the apostles. Most of them came from humble origin. Their poverty surely hindered them to have been brought up with good education, which perhaps only the moneyed people of their times could afford. But their task that lied ahead was enormous. It was no joke for fishermen like them to be facing all types of people: poor and rich, insignificant and influential, illiterate and educated. Would they make it? Again, humanly speaking, it was next to impossible. And Jesus just knew it so well. That is why he consoled and assured his apostles with the spirit of wisdom who would accompany, strengthen and guide them especially in their most trying moments. “When they take you before the synagogues and magistrates and authorities, do not worry about how to defend yourselves or what to say, because when the time comes, the Holy Spirit will teach you what you must say” (Lk 12:11-12).
3. Christ promises his Spirit of Peace. Peace is clearly an Easter gift. The greeting of peace is the risen Christ’s sweetest greeting ever time he appears before his disciples. This seems to characterize Christ’s priority for he knows so well how man is always confronted with the problem of peace. The problem is fundamental and extensive. It is physical and moral, material and spiritual, external and internal. And maybe, man’s quest for peace is unending. It goes even beyond the grave. Our faith teaches us that a tormented soul is never at peace even with death. Restlessness becomes even more severe and frightening. The more it craves, the more it gets tormented.
Peace, therefore, is a gift that comes only from Christ and with Christ. That is why he leaves his peace even as he promises his spirit. “Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give it to you. Do not let your hearts be troubled or afraid.” True and genuine peace of mind and heart is the fruit of the spirit. The world can in no way give it. It is this spirit of peace who alone can fill man’s endless cravings.
It
is for this reason that although this promise of peace is given to all, it must
be fulfilled first and foremost to the rightful persons who need it most: the
apostles. Before anything else, they had to be messengers of peace even as they
preached the good news in a very troubled world. For they could never be
effective witnesses of the gospel unless they themselves become living
witnesses of what and how is it to be at peace with anybody and everybody, with
anything and everything.