Whoever wrote the Gospel of John must have had a profound relationship with Jesus. He would have witnessed and experienced Jesus’ personal love and heard many times His expressions of love for the Father.
This Sunday’s Gospel serves as a testament to Jesus’ expression and revelation of His love for God the Father and His disciples. Speaking as if it were a farewell address to His disciples, He assured them that He would be with them by asking the Father to send them an Advocate—the Holy Spirit—to guide them. He told them, “I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Advocate to be with you always, the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot accept because it neither sees nor knows him. But you know him because he remains with you and will be in you. I will not leave you orphans; I will come to you. In a little while, the world will no longer see me, but you will see me because I live, and you will live. On that day, you will realize that I am in my Father and you are in me and I in you.”
How encouraging it is to hear these words of Jesus to all of us who are following the path of discipleship! We never feel alone or abandoned because we know that Jesus is with us, empowering us through the Holy Spirit. He emboldens us to keep believing in Him, proclaiming His message, and living His words. No matter how indifferent people may be to our calls for them to live their faith fully, we must not despair because, after all, God is in charge of His Church. He will find ways to lead people back to Him. We have seen this happen throughout the history of the Church and our faith.
So, should we worry about people’s apathy toward our faith? Should we despair in hopelessness at the state of the world? Of course, we often experience these feelings of angst, but we must trust God even more in His works of redeeming the world. In the Gospel, Jesus assures us: “And whoever loves me will be loved by my Father, and I will love him and reveal myself to him.”
Pope Leo XIV mentions God’s profound love for us during his Easter Vigil homily this year. “God’s love is stronger than any evil, capable of “driving out hatred” and “bringing down the mighty,” he said. “Man can kill the body, but the life of the God of love is eternal life, which transcends death and which no tomb can imprison,” he added.
* * *
The opinions, beliefs and viewpoints expressed by the author do not necessarily reflect the opinions, beliefs and viewpoints of the Asian Journal, its management, editorial board and staff.
* * *