BIBLE STUDY # 44
SIXTH SUNDAY OF EASTER
May 29, 2011


Gospel Jn 14:15-21

Jesus said to his disciples:
“If you love me, you will keep my commandments.
And I will ask the Father,
and he will give you another Advocate to be with you always,
the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot accept,
because it neither sees nor knows him.
But you know him, because he remains with you,
and will be in you.
I will not leave you orphans; I will come to you.
In a little while the world will no longer see me,
but you will see me, because I live and you will live.
On that day you will realize that I am in my Father
and you are in me and I in you.
Whoever has my commandments and observes them
is the one who loves me.
And whoever loves me will be loved by my Father,
and I will love him and reveal myself to him.”

The Gospel of the Lord

Reflection

We are still in the Book of Glory (see last week) and our Gospel passage today comes immediately after last week’s Gospel passage and is also a part of the Last Supper Discourses.

Jesus is about to leave them. This is the night before he dies, and he tells them, “In a little while the world will no longer see me.” He promises to send them “another advocate.” Jesus is the first advocate (see 1John 2:1). They have been following him, and he has been their guide, teacher, inspiration, and leader. But in a short while, he will undergo his passion, death, resurrection, and in 40 days, his ascension.

But Jesus assures them that even though he will be gone he will be with them because “I am in my Father and you are in me and I in you.” Our God is one who will never abandon us. He says, “I will not leave you orphans; I will come to you.”

It must have been scary for the apostles when Jesus predicted his passion and death. What would the future hold? Who could replace him? What would they do? No wonder they didn’t want to believe it. Jesus tries to reassure them and give them something to hold onto. He wants to give them reason to hope. He knows life will be difficult for them as they try to spread the Gospel (see Acts of the Apostles for many examples of the hardships of the early Church).

How will Jesus remain with us? God “will give you another Advocate to be with you always, the Spirit of truth.” This is the Holy Spirit, sent by the Father and the Son to take the place of the Son as our Advocate. This spirit will be our guide, teacher, inspiration, and leader.

The world does not understand the Spirit because the world doesn’t believe in Jesus. We have accepted Christ into our lives, and we come closer to the Lord by the working of the Holy Spirit.

What does the Spirit do for us? The Spirit helps us to love. Jesus says, “If you love me, you will keep my commandments.” What commandments? What are we supposed to do? How are we supposed to live? What are we to believe? Aren’t these the types of questions we want answered when we come to church, pray, or do spiritual reading?

I think that an easy way to remember what God wants us to do is wrapped up in the word ‘virtue’. Virtues are those many positive qualities that make up a holy life; things like love, sacrifice, forgiveness, generosity, humility, serving the poor and needy, and the like. Those who try to be virtuous know that this is a very difficult task, so to be virtuous, to be holy, we need to add prayer and sacraments to this list.

Jesus wants us to keep his commandments, to be holy. He wants us to show us our love for him by the way we live our lives. Saying we love God isn’t good enough. Our actions have to show that we love God. After all, if someone you knew told you that they loved you, but didn’t do anything to show or to express that love, would you believe them? Probably not, at least not after awhile. “Whoever has my commandments and observes them is the one who loves me.” Observing commandments is more than an assent, it’s more than a belief, it’s more than a creed, it must play itself out in concrete actions in how we serve and assist one another.

What are the benefits of keeping these commandments? First of all, Jesus promises us that “whoever loves me will be loved by my Father, and I will love him and reveal myself to him.” This is more than knowing things about Jesus, it’s about having a personal experience of the risen Lord, and therefore a personal relationship with him. Many people who’ve been touched by Jesus in this way can give you specific details of the when and where and how they felt, but it’s impossible to explain in depth the way God touched their hearts. It is a great motivator to be virtuous.

I think God gives us these moments of grace along the way to give us hope, just as the resurrection appearances gave the disciples hope. When we begin to get down, to waver, to let doubt creep in, we have these moments of grace to reassure us of God’s love and of God’s commitment to us.

I also think that these moments of grace give us direction, focus, and the ability to see what’s important in life.

One of my homily resources called Connections tells a story of a remarkable young boy named Andrew. Here is his story.

God is simply . . . there

Six-year-old Andrew Bateson came down with bacterial meningitis, an aggressive disease that almost cost the little boy his life. In order to save Andrew, doctors had to amputate his legs where the disease had destroyed his circulatory system. Andrew was devastated when he discovered what had happened to him; Andrew couldn't understand why he couldn't have his "old legs back."

His mother, Rebecca, wasn't doing much better. She tried to keep up a positive disposition for her son - but she wondered how Andrew would handle the next chapter.

And she felt betrayed - betrayed by God.

After months of agonizing rehabilitation with his new prosthetic legs, Andrew finally went home.

Then one night at supper, out of nowhere, Andrew said, "I saw God, Mommy. I was sleeping at the hospital. He put his arms out, and I thought he was going to give me a hug. But instead he just touched me on the shoulder."

His mother steeled herself. "Did God say anything?"

"No, he was just . . . there."

A chill ran down his mother's spine. Rebecca writes:

"[God] was just there. What did that mean? I looked at Andrew, wolfing down his dinner. For months I had seen a handicapped child, a damaged child, fighting as hard as he could, failing more often than succeeding in his rehab. Falling down, unable to master his new legs. Yet, unlike me, never turning bitter, never giving up. 'I'm going to walk, I'm going to ride my bike,' he'd insist, 'You just watch.'"

And Rebecca realized: "Andrew came through this better than I have. He was moving on. I was stuck in my bitterness and sense of betrayal . . . Had God been there all along for me, too, and I was just too angry to see? Was he there for me now? Lord, thank you for being with Andrew. Be with me now, too."

[From "The Visitor" by Rebecca Bateson, Guideposts, November 2006.]

I would answer Andrew’s mother by telling her that God is always there for us, not to take away our pain and suffering, but to be our guide and inspiration along the way. Did Andrew understand this theologically? Probably not. But I’d bet that his positive attitude and courage during his rehab came because God ‘was just there.’

I think a second advantage of the Spirit is that after we know what we must do, the Spirit gives us the courage to do it. As St Paul says in Philippians chapter 4 : “I can do everything through him who gives me strength.”

My homily source called Connections has a good story about living out our faith. It is called:

“The holy work of being Mom and Dad

Scrubbing the pan in which Sunday's pot roast was roasted . . . getting your children to and from school, doctor's appointments, rehearsals and practices . . . paying the bills and balancing the checkbook are hardly inspiring, exhilarating experiences.

But they are holy acts.

The details of being a parent - cleaning, teaching, driving to and picking up, paying tuition, guiding, counseling, feeding, clothing - take on a spiritual character when they are part of the work of transforming a child into a sacred and thoughtful and engaged adult.

For parents, the spiritual is not ethereal or remote; the holy is not abstract and confined to words and images. For Moms and Dads, the spiritual is painfully real; the holy is directly connected to the most ordinary and mundane of human activities. The spiritual transcends the present to envision the future - and who contributes more to the future than a parent raising a child into a responsible, centered, loving adult?

As a parent, you are a minister, you are a prophet, you are a priest. You are unfolding the holy work of creation when you gave life to this person with a soul and spirit. You are continuing the work begun by and now entrusted to you by God.

And that is the holiest of vocations.”

Sometimes we think that being holy means being well educated, well known and popular. We attribute holiness to those who found religious orders, write books, those who are great preachers, who begin large programs to help the poor. Or sometimes we think that holiness is reserved for the clergy and religious who have the time, who don’t have the ‘mundane’ work of the secular world.

Look at our own patron, St. Joseph. He didn’t do anything normally associated with great saints, yet he is the patron of the universal church. All he did was the best he could in any given situation, given his own limitations and circumstances.

When Jesus tells us to keep his commandments, he is not asking all of us to do great things; he is asking all of us to be Christ to those we meet in our own world. That is where we find the Lord and the Spirit finds us.

Let’s be Christ for each other and see Christ in each other.

Fr. Phil