Within Us and Among Us

Daily Reflection – 5/28/19

Sacred Scripture

Jesus said to his disciples: “But now I am going to the one who sent me, and not one of you asks me, ‘Where are you going?’ But because I told you this, grief has filled your hearts. 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. And when he comes he will convict the world in regard to sin and righteousness and condemnation: sin, because they do not believe in me; righteousness, because I am going to the Father and you will no longer see me; condemnation, because the ruler of this world has been condemned.”( John 16:5-11)

Reflection

In today’s gospel reading, Jesus, on the night before he died, addresses himself to the sadness of the disciples. They are sad because they have heard him talk about going away. On this evening, full of foreboding, they sense that he is referring to his imminent death

Imagine what the disciples were thinking and feeling as Jesus talked about leaving them. They had been with him for three years. They had left their families and homes to follow Him. He was their leader and their teacher. The disciples simply could not imagine their lives without Jesus. If He was no longer with them, what would they do?
All of us experience sadness when someone who has been significant for us, someone we have loved and valued, is taken from us in death. We need to grieve the loss of our loved ones. Yet, Jesus wants to bring some light into the sadness, the darkness of spirit, of his disciples. He does so by assuring them that, in going from them, he will be able to do something for them that he would not otherwise be able to do. In returning to the Father, he will be able to send them the Advocate, the Paraclete, the Holy Spirit. In and through this Spirit, Jesus will be present to his disciples in a new and very intimate way, and he will be present in this manner not just to his disciples gathered with him that evening but to all future disciples, including ourselves gathered here. 

Jesus’ death and his resurrection from the dead leads to the outpouring of the Holy Spirit upon us all, and, in and through the Spirit, Jesus is within us and among us. That same Spirit is with us in all our dark and difficult times, in all our times of painful loss. The Spirit assures us of the Lord’s loving presence at such moments, so that even in our sadness we can experience something of that joy which is the fruit of the Spirit.

Ask yourself: what would you do if Jesus was not in your life? Would you miss Him? Or would you even notice his absence? What would you lose if Jesus was not present to you? Seriously, how would his absence affect you? It can become easy to take Jesus’ presence to us for granted. Ask yourself: how would your life and my life be different if Jesus was not present with us? Would we even notice his absence? Yet he promises to always be with us!
Today may we thank Jesus for his faithful love and presence in our lives! It is so easy to take this great gift for granted. May we have open eyes and hearts for the coming of Jesus into our lives today. Be awake and alert! He will come! More accurately: he is already with us!

 Prayer of The Day

Come Holy Spirit, and let the fire of your love burn in my heart. Let me desire only what is pure, lovely, holy and good and in accord with the will of God and give me the courage to put away all that is not pleasing in your sight

Daily Note

The gift of the Holy Spirit means we don’t have to rely on our own resources to reach God. Our call is to become better attuned to the wave length of the Spirit, so that our lives are shaped by the Spirit.