READINGS:   Acts of the Apostles 15: 1-2. 22-29   /   Psalm 67: 2-3. 5. 6. 8   /   Revelation 21: 10-14. 22-23

JOHN 14: 23-29

 HIS WORD… 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… 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…

my words…Today is the Sixth Sunday of Easter… and is the Feast of St. Joseph the Worker also. Next Sunday would be Ascension Sunday (May 8), and finally, next next Sunday would be Pentecost Sunday (May 15), the last day of the Easter Season. This is the reason why in John’s gospel for today, Jesus talked about the sending and the coming of the Advocate, the Paraclete = The HOLY SPIRIT. The Holy Spirit, the third person of the Blessed Trinity, is the ever-presence of Jesus in the Church. In Matthew 28:20, Jesus promised to the Apostles that He will be with them always until the end of the age. This is to fulfill what the Archangel Gabriel had said to Joseph at the annunciation, “Behold, the virgin shall be with child and bear a son, and they shall name him EMMANUEL,” which means, “God is with us” (Mt 1:23 quoting Isaiah 7:14). In other words, God’s eternal presence in the Church is fulfilled by the coming of the Holy Spirit, (the Paraclete, the Advocate, the Counselor, the Guide, and the Life) upon the Church at Pentecost. No wonder, the Church is still super active today, in the past, and in the next generations of ages for God has promised it so…

Brothers and Sisters, according to the words of Cardinal Tagle, “We are an Easter people,” and what made us an Easter people is the ever-presence of Jesus in us in the Holy Spirit. Hence, there is always a need for us to make that power of the Holy Spirit always active in us by our participation in the mission of the Church. The sacred congregation at the celebration of the Mass is exercising the gifts of the Holy Spirit in us; hence, the different ministries at Mass starting with the priest as the presider at Mass, the altar servers, the lay ministers, the choir, the singing congregation, the lectors, the commentators, the collectors, the ministry of Ushers, and the rest of the ministries and the congregation are all propelled by the power of the Holy Spirit, the Advocate in the ministries of the Church. That is why the Mass is always a celebration, a celebration of LIFE.

In the Bible, the Holy Spirit is always symbolized by a bird, usually a dove (e.g., at the Jordan baptism). Last March 14, 2013 (03.13.13 in Rome) the same Holy Spirit manifested Himself at the Sacred Conclave that elected Pope Francis. Archbishop Emeritus Oscar V. Cruz, D.D., in the NewsTV (GMA 7) “News-to-go…Program” interview, said he still believed that the presence of that bird, the “seagull” on top of the chimney, after which the white smoke came out, is still the presence of the Holy Spirit in the Church today, now and forever. So God is really with us, God is at work in us, God is always “Emmanuel” to us. This simply means that God has never abandoned us and His Church because of His ever-presence in the Church by the power of the Holy Spirit. The Church now ages 2,016 years and is still counting through all ages and generations.

LET US PRAISE THE LORD AND THE HOLY SPIRIT IN US… ALLELUIA!!! (By Fr. Julius C. Lupot)