WEDNESDAY of 7th WEEK of EASTER 11th May 2016
“And now, Father, I am coming to you and I say these things in the world to share my joy with them to the full.I passed your word on to them, and the world hated them, because they belong to the world no more than I belong to the world.I am not asking you to remove them from the world, but to protect them from the Evil One.”
Jesus promises to send us His Holy Spirit because He alone, by uniting Himself to man’s spirit, can reveal the mysteries of Faith. Only the Holy Spirit brings together in unity God’s dispersed People and makes up, with believers, a Body of which the Head is Christ, already in Heaven.
As baptised people, we seek Jesus where He gives Himself, in the most intimate parts of our being. Born again from Water and the Spirit of New Life, we are in Him, in Christ.We implore the coming of the Holy Spirit upon ourselves and upon the whole Church.
The Good News of Jesus is that He watches over us : ’When I was with them,’ he said,’ I kept them in fidelity to your name. I watched over them and not one was lost, apart from the son of perdition so that Scripture would be fulfilled.’
Jesus is the first Defender to defend us against the son of perdition, the Deceitful One, who lies right from the beginning.
When Jesus goes to the Father, the truth of his Word is confirmed by his Life: “As the Father loved me, I too have loved you.” Jesus gives his life for his sheep. He manifests the Infinite Love of God for us, in the gift made of Himself. So he sends us to another Defender, the Holy Spirit. It is the Love he has for His Father, the Holy Spirit who reminds us of everything.
“I am not asking you to remove them from the world, but to protect them from the Evil One. They do not belong to the world, any more than I belong to the world.While I was with them, I kept those you had given me true to your name.”
By his Life on earth, his death and descent into hell, Christ Jesus visited everything, taking everything towards the Father in His House.All those who have been visited by the Son are called to recognise and to bear witness to the One who came in flesh. In revealing Himself to us through his Incarnation, and in revealing to us our final destination by His Ascension, Jesus invites us to proclaim His Lordship over all Creation.In Heaven , upon earth and in hell, every tongue must speak of God’s Work for mankind and for Creation.Jesus sends us as lambs amidst wolves. In the combats and difficulties we shall encounter the Light of the Word of God enlightens us and every event.
’They do not belong to the world, any more than I belong to the world. Consecrate them in Truth; your Word is Truth.As you sent me into the world, I have sent them into the world .’
The adversary’s arms, lies and violence won’t give us victory, for in this way the wolf will have won.We are disarmed and and we accept this because Jesus disarms us before the world, sending us to combat in Truth and Charity. The child of God is from elsewhere. It is God who defends him.
’Consecrate them in Truth; your Word is Truth. As you sent me into he world, I have sent them into the world, and for their sake I consecrate myself o that they too may be consecrated in Truth.’
If at the Annunciation, through the Incarnation of the Word, humanity and divinity are forever linked, through the Ascension of Jesus, a man-God is welcomed in the Bosom of the Trinity. In coming down into humanity to fetch us, the Lord Jesus did not stop at the reality of our flesh, He took on Himself that caused the deepest wounds in his being : sin and death. As Jesus goes up into Heaven, Christ does not limit Himself to the Resurrection of the flesh, but he goes as far as giving our humanity what is the furthest away from it: sharing in the Life of the Blessed Trinity
"Brothers, so who would be criminal enough and frenzied enough in his passion of discord to imagine that he can put into doubt and dare to tear himself God’s unity, the Lord’s clothing, Christ’s Church? (Saint Cyprian).
Jesus opened up the gates of Heaven to all who through Him finds once again Communion with the Father. We are longer of the word today. Our vocation is accomplished by bringing about our desires for Heaven.
The apostle will say ’ Watch over yourselves, and the flock that the Holy Spirit has given placed you as responsible…I know that ferocious wolves will get to you. ’Victory is assured by God’s arms : gentleness, humility, these fruits of the Holy Spirit.