Tag: advocate

Tuesday of the Sixth Week of Easter

A reading from the holy Gospel according to John

Jesus said to his disciples: “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.”

In today’s Gospel, Jesus tells his disciples that he is going away to the Father but that it is to their advantage. He explains that the Holy Spirit will come to them and convict the world of sin, righteousness, and judgment. The Holy Spirit will show the world that they are sinners, that he is the only way to righteousness, and that judgment has come upon the world because of sin. The Holy Spirit will also guide the disciples into all truth and teach them everything they need to know. Jesus’ departure is not a cause for grief but instead a cause for joy because it means that the Holy Spirit will come and be with them.

God, when the Holy Spirit comes, help me remember that as Jesus says, “he will convict the world in regard to sin and righteousness and condemnation.” Because he has gone to you, I no longer can see Jesus but can now receive the Holy Spirit that he sent. Help me understand, Lord, that in the Holy Spirit nothing of Jesus is diminished. Instead, as the Son went to you, the fulfillment of his work on earth was accomplished. Grant me the grace to welcome the Holy Spirit as the one sent by your Son.

“I will send to you the Spirit of truth, says the Lord; he will guide you to all truth.” Help me today be guided by the Spirit of truth.

Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit, as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end. Amen.

Monday of the Sixth Week of Easter

A reading from the holy Gospel according to John

Jesus said to his disciples: “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.”

Jesus tells his disciples that he will send the Holy Spirit, the Advocate, to them. The Holy Spirit will testify about Jesus and help the disciples to be witnesses of Jesus’ life and teachings. Jesus also tells his disciples that they will be persecuted for their faith, but he tells them this to take courage in the help of the Advocate “so that,” as he says, “you may not fall away.” The Holy Spirit will be with them so that when their hour comes they may remember that he told them. As Jesus’ followers, we can expect to face persecution, but the Advocate is always with us to guide us and strengthen us through every challenge.

God, help me accept the full meaning of Jesus’ words “the hour is coming when everyone who kills you will think he is offering worship to God.” The words leave little room for interpretation, and I don’t think he spoke these words only for them to be softened or taken euphemistically. Because of faith in Christ your Son, faithful witnesses of the Church have been and will be persecuted and killed. Keep me in your care, God, and through the Holy Spirit help me have the courage to profess my faith in love at whatever cost.

From the responsorial psalm: “The Spirit of truth will testify to me, says the Lord, and you also will testify.”

Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit, as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end. Amen.

Sixth Sunday of Easter

A reading from the holy Gospel according to John

Jesus said to his disciples: “I will not leave you orphans; I will come to you. In a little while the world will no longer see me, but you will see me, because I live and you will live. On that day you will realize that I am in my Father and you are in me and I in you.”

In today’s Gospel, Jesus tells the disciples about the Advocate, the Holy Spirit, who will come to remain with them. The action of the Holy Spirit, who will remain with them always, allows Jesus to say to them: “you will see me, because I live and you will live.” Through his invitation to love him, Jesus invites the disciples into the same relationship he has with the Father who loves the Son.

God, as your Son prepared the disciples for his departure from them and ultimately his ascension into heaven, he gave them the hope of the Advocate. It seems odd at first glance that Jesus would send an invisible force to replace his physical presence. Yet, the Holy Spirit, he reveals to the disciples, is the love between you and your Son. As Jesus says, “On that day you will realize that I am in my Father and you are in me and I in you.” Through baptism, I participate in the death and resurrection of your Son. For that reason, I have in me through the Holy Spirit the same hope and joy of the resurrection. What Saint Paul says of Christ, I can also share in as I keep your word: “Put to death in the flesh, he was brought to life in the Spirit.”

Stay with me today, Lord! As the responsorial psalm says: “Whoever loves me will keep my word, says the Lord, and my Father will love him and we will come to him.”

Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit, as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end. Amen.

Thursday of the Twenty-second Week in Ordinary Time

They came and filled both boats so that the boats were in danger of sinking. When Simon Peter saw this, he fell at the knees of Jesus and said, “Depart from me, Lord, for I am a sinful man.”

In today’s Gospel reading from Luke, Peter’s faith in Jesus grows when he experiences a miracle. After Peter and his partners had been fishing all night, working hard, Jesus says to him, ”Put out into deep water and lower your nets for a catch.” Peter demonstrates his faith in Jesus by saying that at his command, he will lower the nets. After he did this, they caught such a great number of fish that the boat was in danger of sinking. Peter then falls at the knees of Jesus and says, ”Depart from me, Lord, for I am a sinful man.” In Peter’s initial response to Jesus, there is a trust that lacks faith; in witnessing the miracle, Peter recognizes his shortcoming, loses faith in self-reliance, and comes to put his faith in the Lord.

God, thank you for the example of Peter, who recognized gains made in something other than self-reliance and hard work. He realized the limits of faith in self and would ultimately profess to Jesus, “You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God.” First, however, he listened as Jesus got into his boat and taught the crowds pressing in on him. Every day I try to understand the task you set before me, often in the form of work that I am given to complete. I want to understand, Lord, how to invite you into this, my own boat, to be by my side as I accomplish these tasks and work toward understanding your will for me in relation to my dreams and wishes. I have to say that that is not always clear for me to discern or easy to do. Help me learn how to say, “At your command, I will do this.”

What you say to Peter, Lord, I can hear you say to me: ”Put out into deep water and lower your nets for a catch.” I hear what you say, but I don’t know what that means in relation to my own identity. Teach me the meaning of “putting out into the deep.” You know every vain attempt I have ever made, every good thing I have tried to grasp and wouldn’t let go. And I know you smile at me, not in pity but out of love. Let me consider the times I pursued material gain to the point of idolatry. Have I looked for honor instead of you? You know I have. When I seek what puffs me up with pride, that automatically excludes you, and I seek you in vain. Stay with me, Lord; show me in what waters I need to put out into the deep. Let me learn to trust you more and more.

Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit. As it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end. Amen.

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Saturday of the Seventh Week of Easter Mass in the Morning: Reflection

Jesus said to him, “What if I want him to remain until I come? What concern is it of yours? You follow me.”

After the Resurrection, Peter asks Jesus whether John will be the one to betray Jesus. The terseness of Jesus’ reply to the man who will become the first leader of the Church seems unwarranted. Where is the tenderness in Jesus’ spiritual formation and care of Peter? The response seems harsh and abrupt.

Even in yesterday’s readings, Jesus asks Peter three times if he loves him, and Peter affirms Jesus’ divinity by saying, “Lord, you know everything; you know that I love you.” Peter seems to want to know more about what will happen and who will play what role. God, help me understand that you work through your Son in ways that fail human comprehension. Did Jesus see in Peter a lack of trust in the Divine plan? Did he want to redirect Peter to his role in leading the disciples and spreading the Gospel? Whatever the purpose of this response, Jesus calls attention to the spiritual reality that man’s ways are not God’s ways and that some things and the actions of others are out of our hands. “You follow me,” Jesus says.

God, show me today how to trust in the words of your Son: “What concern is it of yours?” Help me recognize my gifts and be less concerned about others’ shortcomings. I know you want me to see you at work in my small sphere of interaction and in the whole world. I know you want me to be at work today on foundations you lay and not on shifting sand. For this, you will need to stay with me, Lord.

Today let me remember that to face the things I can’t control, I can give back to God and say, “What concern is this of mine?” That’s easy to say at this moment, but in the midst of the day, things get complicated. God, give me the ability throughout the day to call on the gifts you gave me and the guidance of the Holy Spirit to know my part and yours. Your will, not mine.

USCCB Readings

Thursday of the Seventh Week of Easter: Reflection

Jesus prayed, saying: “Father, they are your gift to me. I wish that where I am they also may be with me, that they may see my glory that you gave me, because you loved me before the foundation of the world.”

Earlier in today’s Gospel reading, Jesus says that those who believe in him will become one with the Father and that Jesus gives them the glory that the Father gave him. The exact words are “And I have given them the glory you gave me.”

This suggests a spiritual reality which seems like it shouldn’t be. How can Jesus give me glory? Isn’t it the opposite, that I give glory to him? God, help me understand this completely without thinking I understand it right off the bat. The reason Jesus gives us the glory the Father gave him is so that we may be one with the Father as Jesus and the Father are one and because the Father loves us even as he loved Jesus.

My Jesus, mercy! I close my eyes and distractions crowd around me. Stay with me today so that I might have the hope and the courage to be one with you. And you love others; let me remember you pray that they also may be in you and the Father.

Jesus says of the Father: “You loved me before the foundation of the world.” And Jesus wants us to be brought to perfection as one with the Father just as he is one with the Father. Let me think about that today; that the Father has loved me also from before the foundation of the world. Through the Eucharist, through God’s love incarnate, every time I receive it, I become one with God through his Son, one with the Father from before I was brought into the world. It is for this that Jesus prays, “that the world may believe [the Father] sent me.”

USCCB Readings

Monday of the Seventh Week of Easter: Reflection

“Jesus answered them, ‘Do you believe now? Behold, the hour is coming and has arrived when each of you will be scattered to his own home and you will leave me alone. But I am not alone, because the Father is with me.’ ”

Jesus speaks these words as he prepares his disciples for the coming of the Advocate. It follows the disciples’ statement that they now believe Jesus because, as they say, “Now we realize that you know everything.” From there, the disciples go out into the world, where Jesus tells them to take courage because he has conquered the world.

God, thank you for the courage you give me, if I am able to see it, day after day despite that in the world I will have trouble. Jesus, you say you have conquered the world, and these words of yours I accept by faith as true. As far as I can accept this, there is joy in being at ease in the troubles of the world.

The disciples go out into the world to preach the Gospel, each to his own place. Yet, they are never alone just as Jesus is not alone because the Father is with him. Neither am I alone today. By sharing all that the Father gave to him, Jesus makes his Father our Father.

Today let me go out into the world in joy, as a child steps out onto the lawn on a summer day. Let my joy in knowing that you have conquered the world prompt others around to wonder at the cause of my joy.

USCCB Readings

Saturday of the Sixth Week of Easter: Reflection

“On that day you will ask in my name, and I do not tell you that I will ask the Father for you. For the Father himself loves you, because you have loved me and have come to believe that I came from God.”

Jesus says two things that seem discrepant: “whatever you ask the Father in my name he will give you” and “on that day you will ask in my name, and I do not tell you that I will ask the Father for you.” Asking anything in the Father’s name and in Jesus’ name are not two separate acts but one. Jesus confirms this in his words and in the Ascension as he is “leaving the world and going back to the Father.”

Jesus is able to say that he will no longer speak in figures but tell the disciples clearly about the Father because he will send the Advocate, who will reveal all truth. God, help me understand that same Jesus who sits at your right hand became human to save us from the consequences of human wretchedness.

There are so many distractions in a day that it would be enough for me to ask Jesus to help me remember to ask anything in his name. At all times, he wants to be present throughout the day; it is only a matter of my asking him to join me and stay with me.

Today in confidence I ask that I remain firm in my belief in Jesus. “For the Father himself loves you, because you have loved me and have come to believe that I came from God.” Let me come to believe in those moments when I hesitate to put God first instead of on the shelf.

USCCB Readings

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Wednesday of the Sixth Week of Easter: Reflection

“Everything that the Father has is mine; for this reason I told you that he will take from what is mine and declare it to you.”

Jesus brought to the disciples the fullness of the truth. The Spirit of truth, the Advocate, will take that fullness from Jesus and declare it to the disciples and to the rest of the world. This brings to mind the Trinity, that the Advocate will glorify Jesus just as Jesus glorifies the Father.

God, help me understand that the Spirit of truth will guide me to all truth. That Jesus spoke of truth should enough to counter any doubts I have in daily life about what is uncertain. “I am the way and the truth and the life,” Jesus says. Truth is not a philosophy or a myth or an unknown god but a person, the second person of the Holy Trinity.

When the Spirit of truth comes, he will not speak on his own but will speak what he hears. Let me be open today to speak not on my own but through what the Spirit of truth teaches me to bring that truth to others.

In today’s Gospel reading of twelve short lines, Jesus says three times that the Spirit of truth will take from what is his and declare it to the disciples. Jesus has much more to tell them, but he sends the Advocate to reveal all truth to them. When I am in the midst of the day weighing the relative truth of an idea or situation, I want to remember to leave room to allow the Advocate to guide me to all truth.

USCCB Readings

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Monday of the Fifth Week of Easter

“Whoever loves me will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our dwelling with him.”

Jesus says these words as he teaches his disciples about the coming of the Advocate, the Holy Spirit. If I recognize the Holy Spirit as the love between the Father and the Son, it is easier to see that that same love can come to dwell in me. This is true, as Jesus says, for “whoever has my commandments and observes them.” In this short Gospel reading of 155 words, Jesus uses the word love seven times in the sense of both loving the Father and the Son and being loved by the Father and the Son.

God, help me understand that you call me to love you and love the Father by doing your will; in turn, you send the Advocate to teach and remind me of all that your Son said and did. Realizing this in myself is a way, as the Psalm says, to give glory not to myself but to your name.

The workday has a way of occupying a huge amount of mental space. God, I know you want me to give my anxieties and cares to you as a little child does who comes to his mother and father when hurt or troubled. Thank you for the gift of family and the many opportunities I will have today to do your will and share the joy of having the Advocate teaching me.

Today I will remember the particular love that Jesus reveals for each of those who observe his commandments. Jesus invites me into that same love through his life, death, and resurrection, and also in his Father sending the Advocate in his Son’s name. Let me recall that in keeping the word of Jesus, I make a place for him to dwell within me so that I can then go out and give glory to the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

USCCB Readings