by Fr. Tommy Lane
Every year on the Fifth and Sixth Sundays of Easter, we listen to important words of Jesus during the Last Supper (and also on the Seventh Sunday in those places where the Ascension is celebrated on a Thursday). In today’s Gospel, Jesus makes a promise: if we love him and keep his word, he and the Father will love us and come to us and dwell with us (John 14:23). What an astounding promise: we will be united with the Father and Jesus through the Holy Spirit if we keep Jesus’ word. We see how astounding it is by looking at the Old Covenant where we see that God’s presence with his people was limited to the temple in Jerusalem and only certain people enjoyed the presence of the Holy Spirit, for example, the Prophets. Now in the New Covenant, if we keep Jesus’ word, God dwells in us; God is no longer confined to a specific place: the temple. From Pentecost onwards, the Holy Spirit was not limited to the Prophets, but is available to all Christians who are open to God. In the New Covenant, God dwells with us if we keep Jesus’ word—we are temples of the Holy Spirit, as Paul says (2 Cor 6:16). Jesus’ promise can unfortunately remain unfulfilled. Jesus said, “If we love him and keep his word…” If we don’t love Jesus by keeping his word, if we don’t love Jesus by keeping his commandments (see John 14:21), then this promise is unfortunately waiting to be fulfilled in us. That is why we talk of serious sin as “mortal”— “mortal” because it is deadly, destroying that beautiful relationship of God dwelling in us through the Holy Spirit. The Sacrament of Reconciliation, confession, restores that relationship with God again.
One person for whom Jesus’ promise waited a long time to be fulfilled was St. Augustine who converted after a wild youth. In his Confessions, he wrote, “Late have I loved you, O beauty so ancient and so new, late have I loved you! You were within me, and I was in the world outside myself. I searched for you in the world outside myself.… You were with me, but I was not with you. The beautiful things of this world kept me far from you and yet, if they had not been in you, they would have had no being at all. You called me; you cried aloud to me; you broke my barrier of deafness; you shone upon me; your radiance enveloped me; you cured my blindness.” (Confessions, 10:27, 38; this translation in St. John’s Gospel, The Navarre Bible, p154).
If we love Jesus and keep his word, and God is dwelling in us, what is it like? We find the answer in today’s Gospel when Jesus said,
Peace I leave with
you; my peace I give to you.
Not as the world gives do I give it
to you.
Do not let your hearts be troubled or afraid. (John
14:27)
When we love Jesus and keep his word, then we have peace in our heart and soul even though events and people will sometimes try to shatter our peace.
As well as keeping Jesus’ word, keeping Jesus’ commandments, another important way to continue to allow God dwell in us through the Holy Spirit is through prayer. Prayer is spending time with God every day. I always say to people to pray in a way that helps you draw close to God and to Our Lady. If at first prayer is difficult, keep praying until prayer becomes a joy. A fire could be smoldering for a while and then burst into flames. If your prayer is smoldering, keep praying until it will burst into life. It will be worth it. Talk to Jesus in your own words as well as saying the prayers we all know. Talk to Jesus as your closest companion. By allowing Jesus to accompany you as your closest companion, hopefully you will be aware of the presence of God with you not just when you pray but throughout your day.
Prayer is satisfying a deep hunger and thirst in the soul of each of us for God. Psalm 63 expresses it like this:
O God, you are my God,
for you I long;
for you my soul is thirsting.
My body pines
for you
like a dry, weary land without water.
(Ps 63:1; Grail
Translation)
The Psalm just before that one, Psalm 62, also expresses a similar sentiment:
In God alone is my
soul at rest;
My help comes from him.
He alone is my rock, my
stronghold,
My fortress; I stand firm.
(Ps 62:2; Grail
Translation)
The words of those Psalms express the sentiment of someone who is living the words of Jesus in the Gospel: if we love Jesus and keep his word, he and the Father will love us and come to us and dwell with us.
I believe that praying to Our Lady every day is also essential. She is our Mother. Remember what Jesus said on the cross, “Woman, behold your son” and to John, representing us, he said, “Behold, your Mother.” If we love Jesus and keep his word, he and the Father will love us and come to us and dwell with us and if we love Our Lady and honor her as our Mother, she will wrap her mantle around us.
© Fr. Tommy Lane 2022
This homily was delivered in a parish in Ireland.
More Homilies for the Sixth Sunday of Easter Year C
Jesus in your House: give up the motorcycle! 2016
Related Homilies: Remaining in Jesus' Word 2019
Remain in My Love 2018