6th Sunday of Easter Year C - 22/5/2022 - Gospel: Jn 14: 23-29
New Revelation
Loneliness is a problem which is buried deep in a person's mind and heart. A person lives amongst others and yet feels lonely. It is the feeling of being alone and forgotten, and worse of all, is the feeling of being abandoned. Loneliness is a devastating personal experience. Jesus had this personal experience, and He promised His disciples that they would not go through the same horrible experience of being abandoned which He had endured. He promised them, that He would not leave them orphan (Jn 14:18). His first personal experience of being alone was that which He endured in the wilderness (Lk 4:1-2). While hung on the cross, in His excruciating pain, the feeling of being abandoned by the Father became even more real. He cried out aloud to the Father:
'Father, why are you abandon me? ( Mt 27:47).
On other occasions, the disciples ran away when He was arrested. In His trial, Jesus was alone in the court yard, surrounded by His enemies, while His apostles were scattered like sheep without a shepherd. Through these personal experiences, Jesus knew His disciples would suffer terribly when He returned to the Father. They would feel sad and lonely. To prevent this sad feeling from occurring, Jesus consoled them by promising to give them a special gift, The Advocate, Who the Father will send in His name to be with them.
Jesus is returning to the Father, but not totally absent from His disciples. His physical presence now becomes spiritual presence. The disciples meet Him through the Advocate, Who will teach, guide and be with them in their new journey. The Advocate would help them to deepen and broader what Jesus had taught them. This opened up before them a new horizon, and with a new understanding. They were fearless in their preaching; they preached with conviction and confidence in their language; hostility and hardship would not paralyse them as before, and death of this corruptible body is not a separation, but rather, a transformation into an incorruptible body to rise with Jesus. This understanding comes from the new revelation, when Jesus told them.
Last week, Jesus gave them a new commandment:
Love one another as I have loved you Jn 13,34.
This week He revealed,
'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'. Jn 14,23.
It reveals that a believer receives not just God's love in her/his heart, but s/he becomes a dwelling place for The Holy Trinity. Our physical body is unable to contain The Holy Trinity, and yet it is possible because it is the work of God; the Father comes to those who love Jesus and His word. The spiritual unity and co-dwelling is invisible for the world. We are incapable of seeing The Holy Trinity, but only feel the effects of God's love and peace in our hearts. They are the gifts Jesus gives to those who love Him. God's word in our hearts makes us bearers of God's love and peace. When we put God's gifts into action, they are visible signs of God's love and peace for the world, because the Father and the Son and the Spirit are active in us. When God's love and peace in us spreads to the world, people will recognize that we are Jesus' disciples.
The Holy Trinity dwells within us as long as we continue to embrace Jesus and His word. God comes to us because we say 'Yes' to Jesus. He invites us to love Him and His teaching because the Holy Trinity will come to us, because His love and His word become the dwelling place for The Holy Trinity.
'Father, why are you abandon me? ( Mt 27:47).
On other occasions, the disciples ran away when He was arrested. In His trial, Jesus was alone in the court yard, surrounded by His enemies, while His apostles were scattered like sheep without a shepherd. Through these personal experiences, Jesus knew His disciples would suffer terribly when He returned to the Father. They would feel sad and lonely. To prevent this sad feeling from occurring, Jesus consoled them by promising to give them a special gift, The Advocate, Who the Father will send in His name to be with them.
Jesus is returning to the Father, but not totally absent from His disciples. His physical presence now becomes spiritual presence. The disciples meet Him through the Advocate, Who will teach, guide and be with them in their new journey. The Advocate would help them to deepen and broader what Jesus had taught them. This opened up before them a new horizon, and with a new understanding. They were fearless in their preaching; they preached with conviction and confidence in their language; hostility and hardship would not paralyse them as before, and death of this corruptible body is not a separation, but rather, a transformation into an incorruptible body to rise with Jesus. This understanding comes from the new revelation, when Jesus told them.
Last week, Jesus gave them a new commandment:
Love one another as I have loved you Jn 13,34.
This week He revealed,
'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'. Jn 14,23.
It reveals that a believer receives not just God's love in her/his heart, but s/he becomes a dwelling place for The Holy Trinity. Our physical body is unable to contain The Holy Trinity, and yet it is possible because it is the work of God; the Father comes to those who love Jesus and His word. The spiritual unity and co-dwelling is invisible for the world. We are incapable of seeing The Holy Trinity, but only feel the effects of God's love and peace in our hearts. They are the gifts Jesus gives to those who love Him. God's word in our hearts makes us bearers of God's love and peace. When we put God's gifts into action, they are visible signs of God's love and peace for the world, because the Father and the Son and the Spirit are active in us. When God's love and peace in us spreads to the world, people will recognize that we are Jesus' disciples.
The Holy Trinity dwells within us as long as we continue to embrace Jesus and His word. God comes to us because we say 'Yes' to Jesus. He invites us to love Him and His teaching because the Holy Trinity will come to us, because His love and His word become the dwelling place for The Holy Trinity.
Written by Fr Vũđình Tường
St Francis Xavier Catholic Parish
Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Brisbane Australia
St Francis Xavier Catholic Parish
Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Brisbane Australia
