Jesus Will Send the Advocate

 

 Jn 16:5-11

 For Our Good

5 Jesus said to his disciples,  "Now I am going to him who sent me. None of you asks me, ‘Where are you going?’ ⁶ Rather, you are filled with grief because I have said these things. ⁷ But very truly I tell you, it is for your good that I am going away. Unless I go away, the Advocate will not come to you; but if I go, I will send him to you. ⁸ When he comes, he will prove the world to be in the wrong about sin and righteousness and judgment: ⁹ about sin, because people do not believe in me; ¹⁰ about righteousness, because I am going to the Father, where you can see me no longer; ¹¹ and about judgment, because the prince of this world now stands condemned."

As the time for the return of Jesus to the Father approaches, Jesus consoles us with the promise of the Advocate, the Spirit. His love for us does not allow him to leave  us orphaned, but under the guidance and protection of the Holy Spirit. Jesus finished the work he came to do, and now turns the ball over to us with the Holy Spirit to guide us, fortify us and enable us to live as Jesus taught us as well as to spread his teachings to others. It's a huge challenge, but his followers over the centuries have carried it out. This is our job now; can we live up to it?

Bro. Rene

Dear Jesus, send us your Holy Spirit and help us renew the face of the earth. Amen.

Not An Easy Life

 

  Jn 15:26-16:4a

The Work of the Holy Spirit

²⁶ “When the Advocate comes, whom I will send to you from the Father—the Spirit of truth who goes out from the Father—he will testify about me. ²⁷ And you also must testify, for you have been with me from the beginning.

16 “All this I have told you so that you will not fall away. ² They will put you out of the synagogue; in fact, the time is coming when anyone who kills you will think they are offering a service to God. ³ They will do such things because they have not known the Father or me. ⁴ I have told you this, so that when their time comes you will remember that I warned you about them. I did not tell you this from the beginning because I was with you."

Six weeks after the Resurrection, we are preparing for the next phase, the departure of Jesus and the coming of the Holy Spirit. Jesus sets the stage for the challenges and trials to come. Being a  disciple will not be easy. It will mean rejection, even death. We've seen it over the centuries and it continues today. Are we willing to walk this path? Are we willing to testify and to suffer for Jesus? The Holy Spirit will guide us and give us the strength and wisdom we need. Come, Holy Spirit!

Bro. Rene

Dear God, send us your Holy Spirit and we shall renew the face of the earth. Amen.

The Great Commandment

 

 Jn 15: 9-17

Love One Another

⁹ “As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Now remain in my love. ¹⁰ If you keep my commands, you will remain in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commands and remain in his love. ¹¹ I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete. ¹² My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you. ¹³ Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends. ¹⁴ You are my friends if you do what I command. ¹⁵ I no longer call you servants, because a servant does not know his master’s business. Instead, I have called you friends, for everything that I learned from my Father I have made known to you. ¹⁶ You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you so that you might go and bear fruit—fruit that will last—and so that whatever you ask in my name the Father will give you. ¹⁷ This is my command: Love each other."

Behold the great Template and Legacy of Jesus: "Love one another." This is why he, the Son of God, became one of us, taught us and died for us: that we may see with our eyes and hear with our ears how much God loves us, and for this reason,why we must love one another. How can Jesus make it any clearer? On Thursday we will celebrate the Ascension of Jesus into heaven; he leaves us, yes, physically, but not without having left us with the command and example to love one another. It takes effort, but without this magnanimous and unconditional love, we miss the point of the life, message and mission of Jesus.  Let us take time to reflect on and soak up these few verses, and renew our efforts and commitment to live them.

Bro. Rene

Dear Jesus, as you have loved me, so may I love others. Amen. 

 

Expect To Suffer

 

 Jn 15:18-21

The World Hates the Disciples

¹⁸ “If the world hates you, keep in mind that it hated me first. ¹⁹ If you belonged to the world, it would love you as its own. As it is, you do not belong to the world, but I have chosen you out of the world. That is why the world hates you. ²⁰ Remember what I told you: ‘A servant is not greater than his master.’ If they persecuted me, they will persecute you also. If they obeyed my teaching, they will obey yours also. ²¹ They will treat you this way because of my name, for they do not know the one who sent me.

Jesus is very clear:his followers will suffer as he did for 'a servant is not greater than his master.' As his disciples, we experience rejection, ridicule, persecution and as we have seen over the centuries, death. Our love for Jesus is tried and proved in the crucible of suffering. Jesus warned us and stands by us. May we be willing to follow him in "bad times" as well as in good times. He suffered for us; are we willing to suffer for him?

Bro. Rene

Dear Jesus, thank you for suffering for me; may I willingly suffer for you. Amen.

 

Show Us The Way

 

 

 Jn 14:6-14

 Jesus Is The Way

⁶ Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. ⁷ If you really know me, you will know my Father as well. From now on, you do know him and have seen him.”

⁸ Philip said, “Lord, show us the Father and that will be enough for us.”

⁹ Jesus answered: “Don’t you know me, Philip, even after I have been among you such a long time? Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, ‘Show us the Father’? ¹⁰ Don’t you believe that I am in the Father, and that the Father is in me? The words I say to you I do not speak on my own authority. Rather, it is the Father, living in me, who is doing his work. ¹¹ Believe me when I say that I am in the Father and the Father is in me; or at least believe on the evidence of the works themselves. ¹² Very truly I tell you, whoever believes in me will do the works I have been doing, and they will do even greater things than these, because I am going to the Father. ¹³ And I will do whatever you ask in my name, so that the Father may be glorified in the Son. ¹⁴ You may ask me for anything in my name, and I will do it.

Like Philip, we want to know the Father and serve him better, and Jesus tells him and us that to do so, we need to know Jesus better, absorb his words, teachings and example and live them daily. It is the owrk of  lifetime but it can be and has been done. Jesus tells us to ask for anything in his name and he will grant it. The invitation is there; if we want to be more like him, let's ask, accept, and do whatever he tells us.

Dear Jesus, you are the Way, the Truth and the Life. Help me to do whatever you ask of me. Amen.

Remain In My Love

 

 Jn 15:9-11

True Joy

 ⁹ “As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Now remain in my love. ¹⁰ If you keep my commands, you will remain in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commands and remain in his love. ¹¹ I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete.

These three short verses contain the formula for happiness and set the tone for post-ascension life with and in Jesus: keep his commands and remain in his love. By  doing this we will find complete and abiding joy. Not that we will be jumping frenetically for joy, but it will be a peaceful, all-encompassing joy that will be visible in our attitudes, our outlook on life and the future, and in our dealings with one another.  We will be "happy campers", a goal all of us want and seek. We find it in Jesus.  Let us renew our love for him daily through prayer and our interactions with one another.

Bro. Rene

Dear Jesus, as you love me, I love you and all who come into my life. Amen. 

Remain in Jesus

 

  Jn 15:1-8

The Vine and the Branches

15 “I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener. ² He cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit, while every branch that does bear fruit he prunes so that it will be even more fruitful. ³ You are already clean because of the word I have spoken to you. ⁴ Remain in me, as I also remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me.

⁵ “I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing. ⁶ If you do not remain in me, you are like a branch that is thrown away and withers; such branches are picked up, thrown into the fire and burned. ⁷ If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. ⁸ This is to my Father’s glory, that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples.

Today we celebrate the Optional Memorial of St. Joseph the Worker, instituted by Pope Pius XII in 1955 to give an authentically Christian understanding of work  and underscore its dignity and as a means of giving glory to God and of growing our own sanctification. If we see ourselves as branches on the vine, united to Jesus, then even our work can be part of our daily offering to him, thus giving work an important place in our  spiritual growth. Our work can thus be a prayer and not a drudge. May the example of St. Joseph help us appreciate our place on the vine and help us grow closer to Jesus.

Bro. Rene

Dear God, thank you for the gift of work and for the example of St. Joseph the Worker who silently and faithfully worked his trade. Amen.