SIXTH SUNDAY OF EASTER, CYCLE A

Readings First: Acts 8:5-8; Second: 1 Pet 3:15-18; Gospel: Jn 14:15-21

Connection between the readings

This last Sunday of the Easter season prepares and in a certain way anticipates the feast of Pentecost. The liturgy presents Jesus promising the Spirit, the same Spirit who raised him to life, and who, in Jesus’ name, the Apostles communicate to the baptized Samaritans. "I shall ask the Father and he will give you another Advocate to be with you forever," Jesus promises in the Gospel. In his First Letter, St. Peter says: "In the body [Christ] was put to death, in the spirit he was raised to life" (second reading). And St. Luke in the Acts of the Apostles presents Peter and John, who "prayed for the Samaritans to receive the Holy Spirit" (first reading).

Doctrinal message

In the history of salvation there is a harmonious succession of events in the action of the Father, of the Son and of the Holy Spirit that is always for the benefit of man’s salvation. The Father is the origin and source of every saving plan. In his love for man he sends his Son to redeem him and to restore his filial condition. Once the Son has fulfilled his mission on earth, the Spirit is sent to accompany man on his pilgrimage in this world toward the Father. Today’s liturgy presents to us the promise Jesus made to the disciples that he would send them the Holy Spirit, so that he would always be with them. Why does Jesus Christ make them this promise? So that the disciples do not feel they are orphans, since Jesus was about to go to his death and to return to the Father’s house. Jesus says to them: "I will not leave you orphans; I will come back to you" (Gospel), not in person, but through his Spirit.

The Holy Spirit, promised by Jesus, is first and foremost the Paraclete, that is, the comforter, the advocate, the giver of life and enlightenment in the faith. The disciples and the early Christians have a special experience of the powerful and illuminating presence of the Spirit at Pentecost. He is also the Spirit of Truth, of God’s revelation to man, with whom God illumines all human existence and gives it its true meaning and raison d’être. This truth was fully accepted by the disciples, proclaimed, confessed and also defended before the "falsehood" of the world, attacks by the falsity of the human heart and mind. Moreover it is the Spirit who gives life, who raises Jesus to life (second reading) and who enlightens Christians who believe in the Gospel, like the inhabitants of Samaria (first reading). The Spirit of God’s life, that life that, like the burning bush seen by Moses at the foot of Mount Sinai, continued to blaze and was never burnt up. Lastly, the Holy Spirit is the promoter of evangelization, both of the Jews and of the Samaritans and pagans. For this reason, commentators on the Acts of the Apostles, usually speak of three "Pentecosts," that of the Jews in Jerusalem (Acts 2), of the Samaritans in Samaria (Acts 8), and of the pagans in Cesarea by the sea (Acts 10). With the receiving of the Spirit, evangelization and the proclamation of the Gospel gathered momentum and more and more new members joined the community of believers in Christ. In this way the Spirit was to make the words of Jesus come true: "Anybody who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I shall love him and show myself to him."

Pastoral suggestions

Those who are holy know and experience that God fulfills his promises. For the first Christians this was an indisputable truth, the object of their experience. However, God’s promise continues to be fulfilled among human beings even today. Of course, we must be very aware that God does not promise "à la carte" happiness, as we humans would sometimes like. It is not a "world" or a "Church" without problems or free from all inconsistencies, nor faultless Christian brothers and sisters who are irreproachable, always kind and smiling. He does not promise to free us from slander, persecution, indifference, ill-treatment or even martyrdom. He promises only the Spirit, his Spirit, giving us the capacity to be happy in a new way, alien to the world’s mentality. He gives us a clear gaze to see the world and the Church with faith, optimism, peace, and love. He gives us a generous heart to be open and to accept our brothers and sisters in the faith as they are, with their weaknesses and miseries, with their qualities and virtues, with their genuine faith, love and hope. He gives us the grace to seek true freedom, which is primarily interior and spiritual, and which works from within to achieve all other liberation from the evils of this world. 

Since God fulfills his promises, our communities must be joyful and steadfast in their faith. Without wishing to close our eyes to the evil that exists, God’s promise continues to come true and to be fulfilled in the midst of the community. If we do not perceive it, couldn’t it be that our faith is weak, and perhaps sickly? On the other hand, without ignoring the doubts and perplexities of Christians in understanding and living their faith, the presence of the Spirit of Truth must comfort the Christian community and give it a very sound faith. Our faith does not rely on men, however congenial they may be, nor on angels, but on the very Spirit of God, the Spirit of Truth, who is the Inner Teacher who strengthens and guarantees the revelation of God and the response of faith to this revelation. 

Source: http://www.clerus.org/clerus/dati/2004-05/21-13/CICLOA.html by P. ANTONIO IZQUIERDO L.C. (1948-2013)

[참고: 이 파일은 저서명 "가톨릭 교회의 말씀 전례에 따른 성경공부 해설서"(엮은이: 소순태, 출판사: 가톨릭출판사)의 각주의 연장으로 마련되었습니다].