MAY 5^th 2013. SIXTH SUNDAY OF EASTER

Gospel: John 14:23-29

­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­Translated from a homily by Don Fabio Rosini, broadcast on Vatican Radio

_____________________________________________________________________________  

Don Fabio’s reflection follows the Gospel reading ...

GOSPEL                   John 14:23-29

Jesus said to his disciples: 

'If anyone loves me he will keep my word, 
and my Father will love him, 
and we shall come to him 
and make our home with him. 
Those who do not love me do not keep my words. 
And my word is not my own: 
it is the word of the one who sent me.
 I have said these things to you 
while still with you; 
but the Advocate, the Holy Spirit, 
whom the Father will send in my name, 
will teach you everything 
and remind you of all I have said to you. 
Peace I bequeath to you, 
my own peace I give you, 
a peace the world cannot give, 
this is my gift to you. 
Do not let your hearts be troubled or afraid. 
You heard me say: 
I am going away, and shall return. 
If you loved me you would have been glad to know that I am going to the Father, 
for the Father is greater than I. 
I have told you this now before it happens, 
 so that when it does happen you may believe.

The Gospel of the Lord: Praise to you Lord Jesus Christ

Before reading the full translation of the homily, let us focus on a number of things that Don Fabio emphasizes.

1. Jesus states that love is a prerequisite for obedience, not vice-versa. If we love Jesus, then we will naturally keep his word. This will lead to the Father and the Son coming to dwell with us. The presence of God in us will be evident in all of our doings and we will be guided by the Holy Spirit.

2. Jesus tells us of the roles that the Holy Spirit plays in our lives. He teaches us. In order to receive the teaching of the Holy Spirit, it is essential that we humbly acknowledge that we know nothing! The greatest obstacle to learning something is the conviction that I know that something already.

3. What does the Holy Spirit teach us? How to pray? How to act morally? It is important that we not try to limit the activity of the Holy Spirit to certain areas. As Jesus says, the Holy Spirit will teach us everything! This is one of the most exciting facets of being a Christian! Every single thing we do in our lives must be changed and renewed by the Holy Spirit! How many things we have to learn and discover! If there is a part of our lives where we think we have nothing to learn, then we can be sure that this part of our lives is characterized by mediocrity and is in need of renewal.

4. The Holy Spirit also helps us to recall Jesus’ words to us in the past. God has been active in our lives since our infancy. It is important that we ponder on all the various stages of our past lives with the aid of the Holy Spirit. Our identity is bound up with our memory. Our memories must be purified of self-delusion and self-deception so that we see the action of God and the glory of God in the past events of our lives.

5. When we allow the Holy Spirit to teach us, revealing to us the action of God in our lives, then we attain a state of peace, a peace that the world cannot give. Our lives become firmly based on the word of Jesus planted in our hearts.

Love leads us to puts Jesus’ words into action. Once we do that, then God will “make his home with us” – his presence will be evident in our lives

We are in the Easter Season, and to live the life of Easter, certain conditions must be met. Jesus says, “If anyone loves me he will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and we shall come to him and make our home with him”. My word! How much is condensed in these few phrases! It is important to note from these words of Jesus that love does not follow from the fact of being obedient to God’s word. In fact, the opposite is the case. During the course of one’s spiritual development, it may be important at times to emphasize obedience. But full and complete obedience flows naturally from love, not vice-versa. There is a cold, mechanical, form of obedience, and then there is an obedience that originates in faith and in love. This latter form of obedience begins from the fact that we have been visited interiorly by God. The text describes this process in very clear, step-by-step fashion. If someone loves Jesus, then he will “keep” Jesus’ word, he will treasure and hold dear the words that Jesus has spoken to him. Such a person will be loved by the Father, will be on intimate terms with the Father. And God will “make his home” with that person, will make his presence felt in the daily life and doings of that person. Thus, if we love Jesus and kept his word, the Father and Son will come to live within us, and this will lead to the experience of being guided by the Holy Spirit.

What is the greatest obstacle that the Holy Spirit encounters when He tries to teach us?

The word “Paraclete” means “the one who is near”. It is this nearness to us that makes Him the “Consoler”. When he draws near, he will do two separate things, according to this Gospel. First of all he will “teach us all things”, and secondly he will remind us of everything that Jesus has said. How difficult it is to teach something to another person! The greatest obstacle to teaching consists in the other person’s conviction that he already knows what you are talking about. The Holy Spirit’s work in us is greatly hampered by this fact. For example, we think we already know what love is, but love is something that can never be grasped in its entirety. It is always a surprise, always new. In order to continue to love someone, we must relearn how to love them every day, and we need the Holy Spirit to teach us how. The indwelling of the Blessed Trinity in us can lead us to do many beautiful things, but in order to learn how to do these things, we must stand before God humbly, acknowledging that we know nothing and that we need the guidance of the Holy Spirit. The verb “to teach” in vulgar Latin is “insignare” which means “to write something inside another person”. The Holy Spirit wishes to write something new and surprising inside us, but the problem is that we already have something written inside, and we simply want our teacher to confirm it! The beautiful virtue of humility is essential for authentic learning. Those who lack humility have difficulty learning and difficulty correcting the errors they have already fallen in to.

What does the Holy Spirit have to teach us? Don’t we know a lot already?

We might ask: Just what exactly does the Holy Spirit want to teach us? How to pray? How to behave in the company of others? Yes, these too, but Jesus tells us unambiguously that the task of the Holy Spirit is to teach us everything. We have a constant need to re-learn over and over again how to do everything that we do in the course of a normal day. What an amazing and exciting facet of being a Christian! If there is an area in our lives where we believe we have nothing to learn, then we can be sure that this area is marked by mediocrity and pettiness. The way we dress; the way we pay our taxes; the way we speak to others; the way we listen to others; everything about us must be renewed by the Holy Spirit! Life is a life of continual discovery of what God wishes to say and do in us.

The Holy Spirit will remind us of everything that Jesus said

The Holy Spirit’s second task is to remind us of the things that Jesus said. It is essential that we remember these things because it is from Christ’s word that we are reborn. Our lives are given substance in the profound things that Jesus says to our hearts. The Holy Spirit is the one who brings the words of the Father and of Jesus into relief in our lives. God is speaking in the unfolding of my personal story. He has spoken to me from my infancy. How many things he has yet to say to me! How many things I have yet to understand and discover! All of us have shadows in our lives, sad events, terrible events. The Holy Spirit throws light on these areas. We were made for God, so when the Holy Spirit brings these things to light and envelopes them in his truth, we welcome the enlightenment because we find it naturally convincing and consoling. As Saint Augustine says, God is closer to me that I am to myself. Thus, these things of God are within us already and need to be remembered. The word “memory” is the verb most associated with the liturgy, which is all about “doing this in memory of me”. My identity is very much linked to my memory, because in my memory is contained the work of God in my past life, the holy people that I have encountered on my journey, the graces that I have received. If my memory has been distorted by deception or self-delusion, then my whole being is out of synch with itself. If, by contrast, my memory is characterised by the recollection of the work of the Saviour in my life, then my identity is sound and healthy. As Pope John Paul II said during the great Jubilee, our memories must be purified; they must be recreated in the light of the love of Christ for each one of us in every past moment of our lives. This does not involve the denial of things that occurred to us in the past. On the contrary, this is a process of seeing our lives in the light of the truth. We will not have arrived at the truth of the things that have happened to us until we come to appreciate that the glory of God was being manifested in these events. This is not a distortion of our memories, but an act of liberation of our memories and identities from the disfigured perspective that prevailed previously.

Inner peace is a sure consequence of the teaching and reminding roles of the Holy Spirit

The Holy Spirit, in teaching and revealing all of these things to us, will give us peace. This is the true peace that the world cannot give. When the words of Christ are firmly planted in our hearts, then our hearts are freed from distress and fear. Everything that worries us becomes small. We can now face up squarely to the things that once caused us anguish. Finally we live in the state of peace.