LETTING GO!

John15:5-11

We are approaching the end of the Easter and these days Jesus is preparing the disciples for the day he will no longer be with them, the day they will be on their own to carry out His mission. Jesus begins with a rhetorical question that makes evident the sadness of the disciples when he announces his departure. He says: “Now I am going to the One who sent me; and not one of you asks, where are you going?”

It is clear that for the disciples the detachment from the life-style lived with Jesus implies suffering. They were afraid to think of losing the visible presence of Christ... they were grieved, saddened in their human affection, because their eyes will no longer be consoled in seeing Jesus. But here Jesus comforts them, prepares them, and tells them that it is necessary for him to go. How does he prepare his disciples for this event? We have this verse which says: But I tell you the truth, it is better for you that I go. For if I do not go the advocate will not come to you. But if I go, I will send him to you.

Jesus tries to dispel this sadness saying that his departure and their detachment from him are the previous conditions for the coming of the Paraclete. And this Paraclete is the one who will remind, support, assist, and strengthen them in their mission. The point in this passage is that, just as Jesus’ death would be incomplete without his rising, Jesus’ resurrection also would make no sense without his returning to the Father and sending the Holy Spirit on the Church.

We see that Jesus’ promises are fulfilled already in the Acts of the Apostles. Today’s first reading is a vivid narrative: Paul and Silas are attacked, beaten and jailed, then there is an earthquake and they end up baptizing their persecutor and his family and dining with them! What happens in this exciting story is fruit of the action of the Holy Spirit that Jesus promised would come to them.

We have all received the Holy Spirit. Paul and Silas in our first reading show us how to use this gift whenever we feel like in prison. They just prayed and praised God and they were freed. Let us also allow the Holy Spirit to reign in our lives that He may set us free from the grip of sin and set us ablaze with the fire of God’s love.