6th Sunday of Easter
The Spirit of Truth
Readings for: 6th Sunday of Easter
Reading 1 Acts 8:5-8, 14-17
Psalm Psalm 66:1-3, 4-5, 6-7, 16, 20
Reading 2 1 Peter 3:15-18
Gospel John 14:15-21
REFLECTIONS:… from Father Daniel
The main theme of today’s readings is Jesus’ promise to send the Paraclete, the Spirit of truth. The Spirit’s coming will be celebrated on the feast of Pentecost. Today’s Gospel spells out how we should prepare to receive the Spirit. The second reading is a practical application of this teaching in the lives of the persecuted Christians who know that the Paraclete will always be with them. The first reading shows the Apostles calling down the Spirit in the imposition of hands.
Today’s Gospel assured the Apostles he was not going to abandon them. When he was no longer with them in a way in which they could see him physically, he would be with them in a spiritual way. The Father would be with them and also the Holy Spirit. He tells them to keep loving him. He tells them to keep loving him. He tells them how to know they are loving him-keep my commandments. OUr love for Jesus is measured by how we keep our Lord’s commandments. That will be the proof of our love. The reward of keeping his commandments is that God will reveal himself to us, we will see Jesus, we will recognise him for he will be with us and in us. We will not be orphans with no one to care for us. Christ and the Spirit and the Father will be present with us. Therefore, if we follow God’s word we are loving him in the way he wants us to.
A little boy in Sunday school once asked his teacher why the ten commandments had been written on stone and not on parchment. His teacher quickly answered, “They were written in stone so that people could only keep them or break them, not bend them.” The commandments are eternal. They are for our own good. He who refuses to obey cannot command.
