6^th Sunday of Easter (A); May 17, 2020

Acts 8:5-8,14-17   Ps 66   1 Pt 3:15-18   Jn 14:15-21

Deacon Jim McFadden

 

         Many decades ago, a world famous psychoanalyst Erich Fromm wrote a remarkable book, The Art of Loving, which was a daring and challenging prescription to learn how to love on a daily basis.  I flashed back to this remarkable tome when I reflected upon this Sunday’s Gospel (cf. Jn 14:15-21)  a continuation of Jesus’ Farewell Discourse in which he leaves us his last teachings before entering his Passion and death.  At the cusp of that sad and dark moment, Jesus promises his friends, that after him, they will receive “another Paraclete” (v. 16).  This Greek term derives from legal terminology for a defender, another counselor—someone who argues for a cause especially for a disarmed, vulnerable person who is undefended.  Jesus is going to physically leave us and we’re going to feel on trial in the world, whose “ways  are not my ways, whose thoughts are not my  thoughts” (cf.  Isaiah 55:8).   We will feel alone, misunderstood, and overwhelmed that we can’t plead our own case in the court of the dominant consciousness of society. 

            Jesus anticipates that sad and lonely feeling by reassuring us that “I will not leave you orphans; I will come to you” (v. 18).  Yes,  Jesus will no longer be with us physically, but his words convey the joy of a new Coming of Christ that will be deeper than a historical presence.  Jesus asks his heavenly Father to send the Holy Spirit as a friend, advocate, pleader, inspirer for all Christians.  The Holy Spirit becomes the PRESENCE of the  absent Jesus!  Now that Jesus is (physically) absent, he has to assure us that he is still present in a deeper, glorified way.  That’s why the Paraclete cannot come until Jesus ascends to his Father.  In his “last will and testament,” Jesus is reassuring his disciples that even when I am no longer physically present, I am still with you in a new form, which would be revealed as the Holy Spirit.  This was the way of assuring and protecting the first Christian community; the Advocate will plead our cause and stand next to us.  The Counselor will be with us forever.  The Spirit of Truth who the self-referential world can never receive, but we can because we know him because he is with you, within you.

            Today as we meditate on these dynamic words of Jesus, we see through the eyes of Faith that we the People of God are in communion with the Father and with Jesus.  How so?  Through the Holy Spirit!  Everything is now ready.   Christ has died, Christ is Risen, Christ will come again.  And, what does the Church do?  She now has the inexhaustible source and power  to evangelize: to live her  mission to baptize all nations and proclaim the Good News.  And, how do we do that?  The mission of Christ, which is the exact same mission as the Church , is achieved through love.  In this mystery of communion with the Triune God, Jesus says in today’s Gospel: “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” (v. 21).  So, it is the “art of loving” , of practicing self-gifting that introduces us to the knowledge of the Risen and glorified Jesus.

             On account of the Incarnation, it is revealed to us that “God is love” (1 Jn 4:8c).  Who is the Father?  The Lover!  Who is the Son?  The Beloved!  Who is the Holy Spirit?  The Loving—the shared love between the Father and the Son!  That’s why the Love for God and neighbor is the greatest commandment of the Gospel.  And, we’re empowered to live it through the Holy Spirit.  We come to know God through loving, which is the dynamism of the Holy Spirit. 

            People of God, today our Lord Jesus is calling us to generously respond to the Gospel’s call to love.  To do that, we must place God at the center of our lives, in which our life is now about him and not us.  If we love Jesus, we will feed his sheep: we will dedicate ourselves to the service of our brothers and sisters, especially those most in need of support and consolation. 

            So, we need to walk into our hearts, pray, and be with the Holy Spirit that we received at our baptism.  The Holy Spirit, the shared love of the Father and Son, will reveal to each one of us our charism, our special gifts, to share within and outside the Christian community.  We are members of the mystical Body of Christ, the Church.  We share in the Mission of Christ.  We have been gifted.  So, we ask ourselves,  “How can I learn the art of loving every day?” How can I use my gifts and talents for God’s praise and glory and the good of others?   What is the Holy Spirit empowering each one of us to do for  the Mission of the Church?  There’s probably no greater question we can ask ourselves than that one.  Amen.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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