Jesus answered and said to him, “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. Whoever does not love me does not keep my words; yet the
word you hear is not mine but that of the Father who sent me. I have told you
this while I am with you. The Advocate, the holy Spirit that the Father will
send in my name -- he will teach you everything and remind you of all that I
told you. Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. Not as the world
gives do I give it to you. Do not let your hearts be troubled or afraid. You
heard me tell you, ‘I am going away and I will come back to you.’ If you loved
me, you would rejoice that I am going to the Father; for the Father is greater
than I. And now I have told you this before it happens, so that when it happens
you may believe.”
Introductory Prayer: Lord,
as I begin this prayer I offer you my whole self: my thoughts, desires,
decisions, actions, hopes, fears, weaknesses, failures and petty successes. I
open my entire being to you, aware that you know everything already. I’m
certain of your mercy and of the purifying power of your penetrating, loving
gaze.
Petition: May the Blessed
Trinity dwell in me.
1. A Cold, Stony Heart We
have no writings of Our Lord. The only time we see Our Lord writing, he was
bent over writing something in the sand with his finger. However, as his finger
traced in the sand (see John 8:6), it was also etching into the hardened hearts
of the surrounding crowd. They dropped the stones with which they intended to
kill the adulterous woman. It is curious how these stones also symbolized the
hardness of their hearts. They dropped them because their hearts had also softened.
In the Old Testament we see Moses coming down from the mountain with a stone
tablet that contained the written law of God, the Ten Commandants. Christ came
to crush our stony hearts and to write his law of love there. Christ wants us
to give him a blank slate so that he can write whatever he wants in our hearts.
2. Christ’s Reassurance It
is scary when we learn that a loved one will be leaving us for an undetermined
amount of time. We can think of the soldiers who go off to war and how hard it
must be for their spouses and children to deal with the loneliness and
uncertainties that naturally arise. Yet the good soldier assures them he will
return, and he is confident that they will be strong and live upright lives.
How hard it must have been for the apostles when Christ told them he would be
leaving them. They had left everything to follow him, and now it seemed as if
they would be alone. Christ knew how heavy their hearts were, so he assured the
apostles that he needed to leave in order that he and the Father could send the
Holy Spirit into their hearts. The Holy Spirit enlightens our hearts too, as he
enlightened the hearts of the apostles.
3. A Sad Homecoming? Christ
is the Prince of Peace. He sought to uplift the apostles, who were dragged down
by sadness and fear at being left alone in the world. Christ tells them, and he
tells us, that they should rejoice because he is going home. Christ wants us to
rejoice not only because he is going home to the Father, but also because if we
keep his word, he and the Father will make their dwelling in us. Their abode
will be in our hearts. He wants us to trust the Holy Spirit who will give us
the clarity of thought and the strength to live Christ’s teachings coherently.
How open am I to the promptings of the Holy Spirit within my soul? What keeps
me from perceiving Him within me? Do I need to be more detached from the goods
of this life so my friendship with my Lord and Creator can grow?
Conversation with Christ:
Lord Jesus, I want to trust in your word -- in
the working of the Holy Spirit in my heart. Help me to let go of the anxieties
that at times paralyze my thoughts and actions. I open my heart so that you,
the Blessed Trinity, can dwell within me. This gives me supernatural joy, a joy
that the world cannot give or take away.
Resolution: I will look to comfort someone who is lonely, helping him or her
to know that you are always with us.
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