Today’s gospel is the
continuation of last Sunday’s selection. It is a passage taken from the long
discourse delivered by Jesus during the last supper. If you remember, last week
Jesus revealed his own identity to his disciples: “I am the way and the truth
and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. If you know me,
then you will also know my Father … Whoever has seen me has seen the Father … I
am in the Father and the Father is in me.” Now, it is time for promises.
First of all, Jesus tells his
disciples that he is not leaving them orphans—he will come back. The world will
no longer see him, but his disciples will. A new kind of presence of Jesus in
the world is about to start: it is the presence of the Risen Lord, invisible to
non-believers, but more than ever real for those who have faith in him.
Secondly, Jesus makes a promise
that would seem something more than a simple assurance of remaining with us. It
is a promise intended for those who, besides believing, keep his commandments:
“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 (manifestabo ei meipsum).” I do not know if you realize that Jesus is promising to us a
special mystical experience: he assures us that he will manifest himself to us
and let us feel his love for us. But on a condition: that we, in our turn, love
him. Of course, we do not show our love for Jesus just through words, but
through deeds—by the observance of his commandments. In Christian life, faith
is not enough. It is necessary—indispensable—if we want to be saved. But, if we
wish to experience the presence and the love of Jesus in our lives, we have to
keep his commandments. Our Founder, Saint Anthony Mary Zaccaria, on this point
writes: “[God’s] bounty gives us—unfaithful and deceitful servants, and his
enemies—many gifts, in spite of our negligence; nevertheless, he does not want
to give to anyone but to his friends and faithful disciples the gift of
perfection, the taste of God, the knowledge of his secrets” (Sermon 3). Friends
of Jesus are precisely those who observe his commandments.
On the same condition, Jesus
makes another promise 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.” Jesus is speaking of a mysterious figure—the Holy
Spirit—who will be sent by the Father. He first designates him by his task:
“another Advocate”—another, because the first Advocate is Jesus himself. In the
original Greek text of the gospel, we find here the word “Paraclete,” which
stands for “defense attorney,” but can mean also “spokesman, mediator,
intercessor, comforter, consoler.” Jesus is a Paraclete, because he is the one
who intercedes for us before God; here, the Holy Spirit is called Paraclete,
because he represents in the Church and in the world the Lord Jesus who has
returned to the Father. Then, Jesus reveals the proper name of this mysterious
figure—“the Spirit of truth.” Below in his discourse, Jesus will explain why
this other Advocate can be called “Spirit of truth.” For the meantime, it is
sufficient for us to know that the name of this mysterious figure is “Holy
Spirit.”
Jesus is disclosing his secrets
to his disciples; among others, he is revealing to them the mystery of God, the
mystery of the Most Holy Trinity—the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. It
will take ages for Christians to grasp this mystery in its details. Here, we
are at the beginning of its revelation.
How important the Holy Spirit is
in the life of the Church we have seen in the first reading. Philip, who is a
deacon, proclaims the gospel, makes miracles, converts people and baptizes them
in the name of the Lord Jesus. But then there is need of the apostles, so that
the newly baptized may receive the Holy Spirit. Without the Holy Spirit, there
is no fullness of Christian life.
Q
