May 22, 2022: Sixth Sunday of Easter

As we approach the end of the Easter Season, the Gospel reading offers us a selection from the Last Supper Discourse, in which Jesus offers profound words to His disciples before His departure.

He tells them that the Holy Spirit will continue to teach them and remind them of all He told them.  

Indeed, though He is departing from them, He will not leave them alone, but continue to be present with them.  In the Holy Spirit, they will continue to abide and live by His Word and in His love.  And He imparts deep peace, so that ultimately, they rejoice that He departs and then is present with them again through the Spirit, especially as they live His love.

The power of the Holy Spirit is clearly evident as the early Church addresses a controversy about what Jewish rules the Gentiles should obey to be part of the Church.  Ultimately, the Holy Spirit helps the church expand to include so many, while also helping them feel unity as part of the One Body of Christ, so that, as the Psalmist proclaims, all the nations might praise God.

The vision in Revelation depicts the New Jerusalem with 12 gates, signifying that the Church welcomes all people. The power of God is so great that there is no need for the sun to shine, for His presence fills the city, just as the Holy Spirit is God's presence that fills us now.

I thought about these words in John 14 when I graduated from college 9 years ago, and prepared to enter a new phase of life, while remaining connected with that experience, especially with my divine encounters in the St. Teresa's community. And customarily I share them with my students as we reach the end of the RE year.  Indeed, though Jesus is no longer physically present on Earth, He continues to be present with us in a mystical, yet very real way, as the Holy Spirit works in us.