Wednesday of the Sixth Week of Easter
“I have much more to tell you”
Fr. Àlex SERRA (Sant Cugat del Vallès, Barcelona, Spain)
Today is a special day! Imagine the typical day when you are with your family or friends, and you have many things to tell them. Maybe you haven't seen them for a long time or you've come from a great trip or, simply, you've had a day full of experiences. You want to explain everything, but you don't have enough time. Well, this is what happened to Jesus. That is why he says: «I have much more to tell you” (Jn 16:12).
Imagine Jesus with his best friends, the disciples, telling them that when they have the Spirit of truth - that is, His very Spirit - they will preach fearlessly all over the world, with spectacular enthusiasm, and that they will have a fantastic life with Him. With this He does not say that we do not have problems, but that we face them in another way, since with the Spirit of God everything is possible. The Spirit makes everything new, unmasks our fears, changes our lives, makes us come out of that which is cumbersome to us, helps us to love those we find difficult to love... ... and allows each one to think about what he or she needs the Lord to change in his or her life.
All this is what the Spirit communicates and proclaims. A new life where the meaninglessness that we can live is faced with the Spirit of the Lord and, as Pope Francis said in 2020 at the Pentecost Mass marked by the confinement due to Covid-19 pandemic, a life of donation! This is the fruit of the Spirit: donation to others, through unity among the disciples. We receive the Spirit, not for ourselves but for others, for those who are close to us, whoever they may be....
May we be faithful disciples of the Lord today, or rather, may we be true friends of the One who gives us Life and ask ourselves: if I am a disciple of the Lord, how do I give myself to others? Do I give them life?
«When He, the Spirit of truth comes, He will guide you into the whole truth»
Fr. Santi COLLELL i Aguirre (La Garriga, Barcelona, Spain)
Today, once again, our Lord, wants to open our eyes for us to realize that more often than not we make things completely wrong. «The Spirit of truth comes, will guide you into the whole truth» (Jn 16:13), what the Father made known to the Son.
How odd!, rather than letting the Spirit (a great unknown of our lives!) guide us, what we do is, either ignore him or “impose upon him” what we have already decided. But what we are told today, instead, is rather the contrary: to let him guide us.
—Lord, I'm thinking aloud... I reread today's Gospel and I think of the many boys and girls that will receive their Confirmation this year. I see those around me and I feel tempted to think: —They are still so “green”! To these ones, your Spirit is practically unknown; and they can be so easily influenced by everything and nothing, at the same time!
Make us, O Lord, who can be considered adults in your faith, effective instruments of your Spirit to become “conveyors” of your truth; to try to “guide”, to help opening up the hearts and the ears of those around us.
«I still have many things to tell you» (Jn 16:12). —Do not refrain, Lord, from speaking to us and revealing to us our own identities! Let your Spirit of Truth help us recognize what is false in our lives while giving us the necessary courage to get rid of it. Let him light up our hearts so that we can also recognize, whatever authentic is there inside us, which already shares your Truth. And that, by recognizing it, we know how to thank you for it and live up to it with joy.
Spirit of Truth, open up our hearts and our lives to Christ's Gospel: that this light be the light to lighten our daily existence. Holy Spirit, our Helper, make us strong to live Christ's truth, thereby giving testimony to everyone.