"He will give you another Advocate to be with you always"
The Word for Sunday: http://usccb.org/bible/readings/052117.cfm
Acts 8: 5-8, 14-17
1 Peter 3: 15-18
John 14: 15-21
If you are
old enough to remember the Catholic Church in the later 60’s and early 70’s you
likely remember what became known as the “Catholic Charismatic Movement.” To tell the truth I went to prayer meetings,
attended a large gathering of “Catholic Charismatics,” sang in a folk group for
our parish “guitar Mass” when I was in high school. Although, I would honestly say that I wasn’t
a complete charismatic I certainly was intrigued. What became known as the baptism in the
Spirit became somewhat of a problem, however, for many. I never claimed to speak in tongues, although
I certainly remember hearing some who felt they did so. Yet, if you were ever asked by a well-meaning
“charismatic: “Have you been baptized in the Holy Spirit?” it may have raised
your shackles a bit and you proudly said to yourself, “I’ve been baptized
already. I thought I received the Spirit
in my earlier water baptism.”
And yes
you did and continue to do so in other non-sacramental ways. Water baptism, the reception of the Spirit,
forgiveness of original sin, and the seeds of faith are all connected with our
understanding of baptism. What more
probably was meant by the phrase, baptism in the Spirit, was a desire for a
deeper personal experience of the Holy Spirit’s work in our lives.
What,
then, would be the purpose of the Spirit in our lives? Jesus words today
indicate the Spirit will be an “Advocate, the spirit of truth, and will remain
with you.” Sounds wonderful! The Gospel
scene today is a kind of farewell, a last promise to the Apostles before Jesus
returns to his Father. They know he has
given them much to ponder and to understand. And he here reassures them that if
they truly remain in his love, they will be able to understand more fully and
deeply all that he has given them. The
Spirit will come to them and abide with them as the Spirit will gradually
unfold for them the fullness of who Jesus is and what their mission is all
about. That is divine reassurance that though he leaves, he comes back in his
Spirit. This will bring about what every Christian should desire and hope for:
that deeper experience of the love of God. In this case, Jesus is not referring
to affection, emotion, or warm feelings, the usual indicator of love for
another. What he is requesting of his Apostles
is their loyalty. We can rephrase: “If you are loyal to me (love me), you will
keep my commandments.”
For
example, married couples show their deepest love for the other by their
loyalty: for better for worse, for richer for poorer, in sickness and in
health, until death. I will remain faithful or loyal to you throughout our
marriage and in that way I indicate my true love for you. It is beyond feelings
and sharing good times.
Loyalty would also imply a certain common understanding; to be of one mind and heart or to be on
the same page as it were in our thinking and perspective. Like a married couple who in the best sense
of marriage find themselves compatible with each other in the things they
enjoy, in the faith they share with each other and their children, in the
common values they live by. If a husband stands in defense of his wife or a
wife in defense of her husband, that certainly indicates a level of love that
is lived out in loyalty.
Jesus
calls us to be of a common mind and heart with him. If you keep my commandments, I see your loyalty;
you prove your love for me and in that way express your love for the Father who
will send you the “Advocate to be with
you always.”
The Spirit
is the gift of the Father to us. The
Spirit was a reassurance to the Apostles that they would not be alone,
especially in times when decisions would need to be made. Our first reading from the Acts of the
Apostles is a wonderful example of this.
The pressure was on for the early Christian communities in Jerusalem and
that area since they were increasingly becoming viewed as a threat to Judaism
and the Jewish way of life with its multiple legal requirements. The Catholic Church has nothing over early
Judaism which had more than 800 legal prescriptions for each Jew. These new
“Christians” seem far more lax and dismissive of these precepts, yet they began
as Jews.
So, the
mission was seen as needing to leave the confines of the Jerusalem communities
and reach out beyond those borders to the larger – Gentile – world. This was
bold and revolutionary. Yet, as we read
today, those non-Jewish communities responded with enthusiasm and embraced the
Gospel preached to them. With St. Paul it reached a peak; a no looking back
pitch. Peter and John go down to Samaria to pray over those baptized, to
receive the Holy Spirit. The Spirit has
taught them about the future and God’s full intent in Christ.
As the
early Apostles and the early Christians found themselves with a new direction
and a new social order of love, forgiveness, reconciliation, peace and service,
they came to understand more deeply the meaning of Jesus’ mission and that of
their own in the world. In the end, this
made them very different from the culture around them. Yet, they remained loyal to the end and
countless thousands even went to martyrdom for the sake of the Gospel.
This call
to love and loyalty is what we hear today.
Not as a thing of the past, an interesting historical study but as a
clarion call to us today. The Gospel is
timeless and the Spirit is constantly present guiding us to understand that “deposit
of faith” as we call it.
In spite
of so many contrary attractions around us, can we remain loyal to Christ and
his Church? We will be different and by
that difference model for others a better way based in love for God and others.
Jesus invites his Apostles and all who would believe into a common relationship
with God through him in the power of the Spirit. “Whoever
loves me will be loved by my Father . . . and I will reveal myself to him.”
Our common
share in the Eucharist is the undeniable sign that the Gospel of Christ is
meant for all. Here we gather as one
family in a blind acceptance of the differences among us and gratefulness for
the gift of diversity, which is a sign of the fullness and richness of God.
Grant, almighty God,
that we may celebrate with heartfelt devotion these days of joy,
which we keep in honor of the risen Lord,
and that what we relive in remembrance
we may always hold to in what we do.
Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son,
who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God, for ever and ever.
(Collect of Mass)
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