Friday, May 15, 2020

Reflection for Sunday May 17, Sixth Sunday of Easter: John 14:15-21




Gospel: John 14:15-21
Jesus said to his disciples: "If you love me, you will keep my commandments. And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Advocate to be with you always, the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot accept, because it neither sees nor knows him. But you know him, because he remains with you, and will be in you. 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. Whoever has my commandments and observes them is the one who loves me. And whoever loves me will be loved by my Father, and I will love him and reveal myself to him."
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Reflection:
Do we once in a while feel that somebody is watching over us most especially when we are alone? Do we often times feel that somebody is whispering to us telling us to do what is right when we are about to do what is wrong?

In this gospel episode Jesus is soon to leave the disciples but He is promising them the presence of an advocate after He leaves them. God the Holy Spirit is that advocate that is always with us, watching over us and always leading us to the right way of life. This is the same Holy Spirit that we received during our baptism and the very same Holy Spirit that was strengthened within us when we received the Sacrament of Confirmation.

The question that needs to be answered is this: If the Holy Spirit is always with us, how come that we still commit sin? We still commit sin because we also have a freewill to do what is wrong or right. And many of us sad to say still choose to do wrong even if the Holy Spirit is urging us to do what is right. So, we don’t have peace and we are always disturbed.      

The key to always feel the presence of the Holy Spirit in our life is to love the Lord and to follow His commandments. This is a very simple instruction from the Lord but very hard to follow for many of us.  Because many of us are easily tempted by satan to sin. Thus, we don’t feel the guiding presence of the Holy Spirit in our life. What we instead feel is the presence of satan hence we live sinful, disturbed and complicated lives.

If we still have peace today despite the disorder that Covid-19 has created in our life the abiding, guiding and calming presence of the Holy Spirit is within us. This is so because we love the Lord and we observe carefully His commandments.

Do we still feel right now the calming and peaceful presence of the Holy Spirit? – Marino J. Dasmarinas

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