Sixth Sunday of Easter
May 1, 2005
John 14:15-21

This Sunday already focuses on the mystery if the Ascension, a separation that brings about more closeness and intimacy. The gift of the risen Christ is the “Spirit of Truth.” The question asked by Pilate in Jesus’ trial re-emerges in our minds: “What is truth?” And it seems that we are not talking about precise encyclopedic knowledge or correct information on such matters as history nor game plans for effective action in the future. The gift of the Spirit brings us a vision of truth when he opens our eyes to see who we are and what the gifts and expectations of God are in our regard.

The falsehood, in which we tend to spend our days, is centered on the false assumption that we are in full charge of life, go around with independence, and are accountable to no one but ourselves. The truth that Gods’ Spirit communicates is that we are creatures of his, not of our own, and that he is offering us individual calls and tasks, not as if we were slaves but sons and daughters.

The Spirit of Truth is the Spirit of intimacy with God. Receiving it liberates us from the human being’s cosmic experience of being an abandoned orphan in a vast but empty universe in which no permanent inhabitant can be found, no host, no patron, not even a living, loving manager, only impersonal physical laws which blindly apply, cut short our opportunities and, in a finite period of time, eliminate all opportunities for further growth and permanent value.

The Spirit of Truth is Jesus’ love in the hearts of the redeemed, the elevation to join the dialogue of Jesus and his Father in new and newly experienced exchanges of love. In this context “keeping the Law” is not the drudgery of an observance of arbitrary rules of behavior, but joining the Son in his obedience to the will of the Father to whom he gave his life. Being redeemed ends up becoming redeemed from the self, giving ourselves away leads us to finding the self in the very act of generous self-giving.

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