John 14:21-26

Acts 14:5-18

Psalm 115:1-2, 3-4, 15-16

John 14:21-26

Jesus said to his disciples:

“Whoever has my commandments and observes them

is the one who loves me.

Whoever loves me will be loved by my Father,

and I will love him and reveal myself to him.”

Judas, not the Iscariot, said to him,

“Master, then what happened that you will reveal yourself to us

and not to the world?”

Jesus answered and said to him,

“Whoever loves me will keep my word,

and my Father will love him,

and we will come to him and make our dwelling with him.

Whoever does not love me does not keep my words;

yet the word you hear is not mine

but that of the Father who sent me.

“I have told you this while I am with you.

The Advocate, the Holy Spirit

whom the Father will send in my name--

he will teach you everything

and remind you of all that I told you.”

Opening Prayer: Lord God, send forth your Spirit and renew the face of the earth. Inflame my heart with the grace of your Spirit. Enlighten my mind with the wisdom of your Spirit. Remind me of all that your Son did and taught. Help me to be docile to your commandments.

Encountering the Word of God

1. Love in Action: At the Last Supper, Jesus teaches his disciples that love is not merely a passive feeling or emotion, but something much deeper. True love – love for God above all things and love of neighbor – is expressed in action, sacrifice, and self-giving. Love is connected by Jesus to observing his commandments and keeping his word. He commands us to put God in the first place, to resist the temptations to power, pride, pleasure, and possessions, to be detached from earthly goods, to serve the poor, and to be docile to the Spirit. Keeping Jesus’ word means frequently meditating on His teachings and parables, especially those related to the Kingdom of God, and putting them into practice. It means listening to Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount and embracing the life Jesus lived – a life, for example, of prayer, fasting, and almsgiving. 

2. Love and Indwelling:  Jesus complements his teaching on love and keeping the commandments by speaking at the Last Supper about the mystery of divine indwelling. Keeping the commandments is not the goal of our lives or the covenant with God, but is the way we stay in a loving and covenant relationship with God. It is the way we maintain the divine life we have gratuitously received from God the Father through Jesus Christ. Through our baptism and the effusion of divine grace, the triune God dwells within us in the depths of our being. The presence of the Word within us especially guides our thinking through the gift of wisdom. The presence of the Spirit within us especially guides our actions through the gift of charity.

3. Our Loving Advocate: Knowing that he will be crucified the following day, Jesus reveals the mystery of the Spirit at the Last Supper. He promises that the Father will send the Spirit to us in his name and that the Spirit will accomplish two important works. First, the Spirit will teach us everything. This plays out in our individual lives and the history of the Church. Jesus is the definitive Word of the Father and the fullness of divine revelation. But the Spirit guides the Church to understand what Jesus, the Word of God, has revealed. The second work of the Spirit that Jesus highlights is remembrance – the Spirit will remind the Apostles and us of what Jesus told them. Some of this is captured in a written form in the four Gospels. Over the course of a few decades, the four evangelists were at work: the Apostle Matthew wrote down what he heard Jesus say and what he saw Jesus did; the evangelist Mark wrote down what Peter preached to the Gentiles in Rome about Jesus’ words and life, the evangelist Luke wrote down what eyewitnesses and others, like Paul, knew about Jesus’ teaching and actions, and the Apostle John complemented what the other evangelists wrote through what he taught the early Christian community about Jesus’ signs and teaching. All four were inspired by the Holy Spirit, who guided their writing by reminding them of what Jesus told his disciples and accomplished in his public ministry.

Conversing with Christ: Lord Jesus, thank you for sending the Spirit to teach and guide the members of your Body, the Church. I love you, Lord, and desire to obey the commandments of you and your Father. Reveal your love to me and comfort me with your merciful grace.

Living the Word of God: In faith and through faith, we are guided by the Holy Spirit to the understanding of the Gospel and urged on by the Spirit to preach the Gospel to all men and women. Am I willing to let God open my mind and heart? What is the Spirit urging me to do today?