John 14
Jesus said to his disciples. “If you love me, show it by doing what I’ve told you. I will talk to the Father and he’ll provide you another Friend so that you will always have someone with you. This Friend is the Spirit of Truth. The godless world can’t take him in because it doesn’t have eyes to see him, doesn’t know what to look for. But you know him already because he has been staying with you, and will even be in you!
“I will not leave you orphaned. I’m coming back. In just a little while the world will no longer see me, but you’re going to see me because I am alive and you’re about to come alive. At that moment you will know absolutely that I’m in my Father, and you’re in me, and I’m in you.
“The person who knows my commandments and keeps them, that’s who loves me. And the person who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I will love him and make myself plain to him.”
Gospel Reflection
We are introduced to the idea of God as Trinity. In one breath Jesus speaks of Father, Son and Holy Spirit; a Union that give Christians a deep assuredness of God’s presence in all of their lives.
For the Jewish disciples, committed to a belief in one God, this seems the opposite of everything they were taught to believe in. No wonder it had made no sense; that Jesus regarded God as intimately as a son would love a human father was enough of a challenge. And now, the Holy Spirit – sent from both the Father and the Son to be our guardian and guide.
As Christians, we call on this wraparound of God’s presence with every Sign of the Cross. A Unity and a Tri-unity of loving invitation and promise. Our lives will be anything but easy if we leave the world’s claim on us and try to follow our brother Jesus as servants of compassion.
The peace he offers us is not one of avoidance or retreat; it is the peace of living in God’s light. Walking in Jesus’ footsteps, we can rest in the holding of the Father embrace and the watchfulness of the Holy Spirit. A peace that assures all of us that we too are part of this Family of Love.