John 14, 15-21:
Sunday, May 14th, 2023 (6 Easter A)
“If you love me, you will keep my commandments. I will ask the Father to give you another advocate, who will be with you always, the Spirit of truth”.
The time of Jesus’ departure is near and he bids farewell to his friends. He promises them that he will not leave them alone, that he will send them his Spirit, as a new way of presence after his resurrection.
This Sunday’s Word of God tells us that when the apostles sent out those who were to carry out a particular mission, they first prayed and then laid their hands on them and received the Holy Spirit. God went with them, and they carried God.
In our baptism, in confirmation, just like them, we have received the Holy Spirit. Sometimes we are not aware of it. And, if we have not cast him out of our lives, God, his Spirit, is still with us.
In this time of first communions, of confirmations, of receiving the sacraments, many who call themselves Christians have lost the sense of what they are doing. They are not aware that they may be obscuring the action of the Spirit they have received.
Today too, St Peter asks us to “give glory to God in our hearts, and be ready to give an account of our faith to anyone who asks us”. How good it would be for our world if by our lives we were to bring God who is with us to those around us. May the joy of faith, a sign of the Spirit’s presence, fill us with hope and love for others.
Juan Ramón Gómez Pascual, cmf
How are you in the joy of faith?
