29/05/2011 - 6th. Sunday in Easter Season - Year A
1Reading Act 8,5-8.14-17 Psalm 65 2Reading 1Pt 3,15-18 Gospel Jn 14,15-21
One can understand that the exhortation of st. Peter comes from someone who loves
the Lord and who learned to love others! "Worship the Lord, Christ, in your
hearts": it is an invitation to take care of the interior life, a life that
makes us free from everything and everyone, which allows us to be available to love.
In fact this worship from within makes us capable to speak a true and sincere word
to manifest the mysteries of God's love that make us trust worthy and at peace.
St. Peter knows that the believers live in an environment that rejects them, judge
them and despise them. They must be strong and well rooted, they must be able not
to be swayed by slander and evil that is poured over them. The very people who despise
us are the ones to be more loved so that they can experience the goodness and mercy
of God! This is certainly a difficult task, but Jesus assures us the assistance
of the Paraclete, which he calls "the Spirit of truth." The terms used
by Jesus himself to show the Holy Spirit are significant, "Paraclete"
is the greek word used by the evangelist, and means "called to be close,"
therefore to attend. In any situation we find ourselves we can enjoy the assistance
of the Holy Spirit, who becomes for us comforter, advocate, urge, advocate, prompter.
To who Jesus promised the Holy Spirit? "If you love me, keep my commandments,
and I will pray the Father, and he will give you another Paraclete": to love
Jesus, this is the task of the disciple, who is rewarded by the gift of the Spirit
of God. This is precisely what St. Peter recommend to us. And how do we love Jesus
and worship him in our hearts? The Lord himself tells us: "Whoever has my commandments
and keeps them, he is the one who loves me." Love is trust, so he who loves
Jesus trusts him and takes account of his desires, which become for him commandments
to be obeyed carefully. We, therefore, obey Jesus, and he is committed to assist
us by the Holy Spirit! Therefore we will not have no more fear, no fear in situations
of suffering, misunderstanding and not even in times of persecutions.
The presence of the Holy Spirit changes the life of the disciple and makes it fruitful.
At baptism we arrive for our choice, after listening the Lord's teaching and seeing
his love for men. But baptism is not the end but the beginning of a journey. The
apostles knew it from the beginning, and that's why Peter and John went in Samaria,
where many were baptized. They have met them to pray over them for the Holy Spirit:
"they laid their hands and they received the Holy Spirit". Those who receive
the Holy Spirit live not just enjoying the presence and love of Jesus, but also
collaborating with him in the gospel, the great love of the Father, the building
up of the Church of God. What had happened in the Upper Room the evening of the
manifestation of the risen one, must happen to all those who enter the Church through
baptism. To the apostles gathered together, Jesus had given the mandate he had received
from the Father and had breathed on them the Holy Spirit so that they can have the
strength to continue his mission. To those who are baptized it is important to lay
hands that they might receive the same Spirit and be united fully in the life and
mission of the Church in the world. On us too, the bishop or his delegate laid hands
so to receive the Spirit of God: it is the sacrament of Confirmation, which makes
us co-responsible for building up of the Church and gives us light and strength
to be witnesses of the Lord in this world , which is always hostile to him. The
Holy Spirit gives us the joy to imitate Jesus in his offering for the salvation
of sinners. As for him, for us this availability can lead to pain and fatigue, but
it is the necessary way to fulfill the will of the Father.
During this week we begin the novena in preparation for Pentecost: let us invoke
the Spirit of God to descend upon us and upon the whole Church, so to give us strength
and joy to witness the Lord Jesus without any fear of the reactions of the world.
Offer Jesus to the people means giving them the life that fully realizes the aspirations
of their hearts!