Showing all posts by Elija

The forty days during which the Risen Lord had instructed His disciples and led them even more deeply into their mission have come to an end. For the Lord, the hour has come to return to His Father in all His glory. He has completed the work He was commissioned to carry out on Earth and has laid the foundation for the message of salvation to be proclaimed throughout the world. Nothing is more important than the fulfillment of the mission the Lord entrusted to His apostles so that all people might come to know the Redeemer of all nations and follow Him. Jesus is the only way to the Father (Jn 14:6).

In recent days, the readings and the Gospel have spoken to us again and again of the Holy Spirit, who is absolutely indispensable for the authentic spread of the Gospel. Without Him, the fire of love would soon be extinguished, and the truth would be replaced by human fables and the deceptions of fallen angels. Today, on the Solemnity of the Ascension of the Lord, we hear the passage from the Acts of the Apostles that recounts this event:

Acts 1:1–12

In the first book, O Theoph′ilus, I have dealt with all that Jesus began to do and teach, until the day when he was taken up, after he had given commandment through the Holy Spirit to the apostles whom he had chosen. To them he presented himself alive after his passion by many proofs, appearing to them during forty days, and speaking of the kingdom of God. And while staying with them he charged them not to depart from Jerusalem, but to wait for the promise of the Father, which, he said, “you heard from me, for John baptized with water, but before many days you shall be baptized with the Holy Spirit.” So when they had come together, they asked him, “Lord, will you at this time restore the kingdom to Israel?” He said to them, “It is not for you to know times or seasons which the Father has fixed by his own authority. 

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Jn 16:12-15

At that time, Jesus said to his disciples: I have yet many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now.  When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth; for he will not speak on his own authority, but whatever he hears he will speak, and he will declare to you the things that are to come.  He will glorify me, for he will take what is mine and declare it to you.  All that the Father has is mine; therefore I said that he will take what is mine and declare it to you.

While still on earth with His disciples, the Lord did not entrust everything to them, knowing that the Holy Spirit had to be sent to them first, both to allow them to understand things and to strengthen them to put them into practice.

This is how the Lord guides His Church through time, enabling it to discern His revelation through the Holy Spirit ever more clearly.

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Jn 16:5-11

At that time, Jesus said to his disciples: I did not say these things to you from the beginning, because I was with you. But now I am going to him who sent me; yet none of you asks me, ‘Where are you going?’  But because I have said these things to you, sorrow has filled your hearts. Nevertheless I tell you the truth: it is to your advantage that I go away, for if I do not go away, the Counselor will not come to you; but if I go, I will send him to you. And when he comes, he will convince the world concerning sin and righteousness and judgment:  concerning sin, because they do not believe in me; concerning righteousness, because I go to the Father, and you will see me no more; concerning judgment, because the ruler of this world is judged.

Today we hear again one of those statements of the Lord that the disciples had to learn to understand. Their hearts were full of grief, but none of them dared to ask where Jesus was going. Perhaps they were afraid of an answer that would deepen the pain in which they were already immersed.

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Jn 15:26-16:4

At that time, Jesus said to his disciples: When the Counselor comes, whom I shall send to you from the Father, even the Spirit of truth, who proceeds from the Father, he will bear witness to me; and you also are witnesses, because you have been with me from the beginning. I have said all this to you to keep you from falling away.  They will put you out of the synagogues; indeed, the hour is coming when whoever kills you will think he is offering service to God.  And they will do this because they have not known the Father, nor me. But I have said these things to you, that when their hour comes you may remember that I told you of them.

The Church teaches us that the Holy Spirit is sent by the Father and the Son. As today’s reading suggests, His task is to remind us of what Jesus said and did; that is, to bear witness to Him.

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Today’s Gospel invites us to reflect once again on the Holy Spirit.

Jn 14:15–21

“If you love me, you will keep my commandments. And I will pray the Father, and he will give you another Counselor, to be with you for ever, even the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees him nor knows him; you know him, for he dwells with you, and will be in you. I will not leave you orphans[1]; I will come to you. Yet a little while, and the world will see me no more, but you will see me; because I live, you will live also. In that day you will know that I am in my Father, and you in me, and I in you. He who has my commandments and keeps them, he it is who loves me; and he who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I will love him and manifest myself to him.” 

This other Advocate whom the Lord has sent is the Holy Spirit, who dwells within us, enlightens and strengthens us, leads us on the path of sanctification, and inspires the Church to proclaim the Gospel in the right way.

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