Gospel: Jn 15:26-16:4a
*
JESUS said to his disciples: “When the Advocate comes whom I will send you from the Father, the Spirit of truth that proceeds from the Father, he will testify to me. And you also testify, because you have been with me from the beginning.
“I have told you this so that you may not fall away. They will expel you from the synagogues; in fact, the hour is coming when everyone who kills you will think he is offering worship to God. They will do this because they have not known either the Father or me. I have told you this so that when their hour comes you may remember that I told you.”
* * *
The coming of the Holy Spirit will enable the disciples to know and recognize Jesus as the Christ. Christ’s mission is associated with the Holy Spirit; for when the Father sends his Word (Jesus), he always sends his Breath (the Spirit; Hebrew Ruach).
The Spirit joins us intimately with Jesus Christ in two ways. First, the Risen Christ is present within and among us today in his Spirit; the Spirit’s power is seen most clearly in the resurrection. Second, the Spirit is the inner source of our life of faith by which we accept Jesus. “No one can say, ‘Jesus is Lord,’ except by the Holy Spirit” (1 Cor 12:3; cf PCP II, 64, 68). Christ gives the form and content of salvation, while the Spirit makes present and extends this new life (cf CFC, 1299). At Pentecost, the community of believers experiences the outpouring of the Holy Spirit, inspiring them with power and zeal to proclaim that Jesus Christ is Lord. In doing evangelization, the Apostles and disciples need not worry what to preach, “for it will not be you who speak but the Spirit of your Father speaking through you” (Mt 10:20).
* * *
SOURCE: “365 Days with the Lord 2020,” ST. PAULS Philippines, 7708 St. Paul Rd., SAV, Makati City (Phils.); Tel.: 895-9701; Fax 895-7328; E-mail: [email protected]; Website: http://www.stpauls.ph.
