DAILY GRACE
May 19, 2020, Tuesday of the Sixth Week of Easter
Scripture: John 16:5-11
‘But now I am going to him who sent me; yet none of you asks me, “Where are you going?” But because I have said these things to you, sorrow has filled your hearts. Nevertheless, I tell you the truth: it is to your advantage that I go away, for if I do not go away, the Advocate will not come to you; but if I go, I will send him to you. And when he comes, he will prove the world wrong about sin and righteousness and judgement: about sin, because they do not believe in me; about righteousness, because I am going to the Father and you will see me no longer; about judgement, because the ruler of this world has been condemned.’
The Word of the Lord. Thanks be to God.
Meditation
“‘. . . it is to your advantage that I go away. . . “
Jesus seems to leave his disciples in the lurch when he tells them, “ . . it is to your advantage that I go away.” They wonder why after leaving everything to answer his call to “come and follw me,” he is now saying, “you cannot come.” Earlier Peter had asked: “Master, where are you going?” Jesus assured Peter by saying, “Do not let your hearts be troubled. Believe in God; believe also in me” (Jn. 14:1). Thomas pushed the question a little further. He reminded Jesus that they didn’t know where he was going. How could they know the way? This question prompted Jesus’ wonderful self-definition: “I am the way and the truth and the life” (Jn. 14:6). In chapter 16 of John’s Gospel the disciples are no longer asking Jesus where he is going or why he must go. Grief has filled their hearts.
There are times in life when Jesus seems to disappear and nothing makes sense. Perhaps these are times when our understanding of God is being purified and refined. During such times we seem to enter into something that may be best described as an “unknowing.” The disciples had dreamed big dreams. They had hoped to sit at the right and left of Jesus when he entered his kingdom. They had to let go of their image of the Messiah. Jesus’ promise was so much bigger than they could imagine. The Spirit, the love of the Father and the Son, will reveal it to them in the depths of their being.
In the Divine Comedy, when Dante enters heaven, Saint John the Apostle asks him whom he loves and why. The saint’s question forced Dante to refine his thinking. The Spirit also helps us refine our answers as we go, by revealing the truth of who we are and the truth of God’s great love.
Prayer
Send us your Spirit’s light, Lord. into the night of my soul. Breathe your life anew in me today.
Contemplation
“Come, Holy Spirit.”