Gospel – John 14:15-16;23b-26

Jesus said to his disciples:
“If you love me, you will keep my commandments.
And I will ask the Father,
and he will give you another Advocate to be with you always.

“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.
Those who do not love me do not keep my words;
yet the word you hear is not mine
but that of the Father who sent me.

“I have told you this while I am with you.
The Advocate, the Holy Spirit whom the Father will send in my name,
will teach you everything
and remind you of all that I told you.”

Reflection on the Gospel

Let us remember that we are in the holy presence of God.

Jesus said to his disciples: “If you love me, you will keep my commandments. And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Advocate to be with you always.

“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. Those who do not love me do not keep my words: yet the word you hear is not mine but that of the Father who sent me.

“I have told you this while I am with you. The Advocate, the Holy Spirit whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you everything and remind you of all that I told you.

As with Passover, the early Christians, and we who are their descendants, chose to keep the Feast of the Resurrection of Jesus at that celebration. There is another great Jewish Feast, based upon the length of time after Passover. Fifty days after Passover is a feast which remembers the meeting between God, Moses, and the People of Israel at Mount Sinai. In the Jewish tradition this is fifty days after the First Passover on the eve when the Israelites escaped from Egypt. The word “Pentecost” is not a Hebrew word, it is Greek. ‘Pente’ in Greek means fifty. Receiving the Ten Commandments given by God on Sinai, and the promise the People of Israel made at that time that they would be faithful to God, is the beginning of the Jewish Faith.

Jesus says to his disciples that if they love him and keep his teaching, The Father will send the Holy Spirit to them soon, and the Spirit will help the disciples remember all that Jesus had taught them. In effect, what the Feast of Pentecost – the Coming of the Holy Spirit – celebrates is the beginning of the People of Jesus. That is what the early Christians were called. The “People” eventually became what we today call “The Church”. So we are the People of God who regularly gather together to love and worship God . As Jesus says: If we love Him and keep his Word, the Father will love us, and will send the Holy Spirit to us so that we may understand The Father, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit.

Brother James Loxham, F.S.C.
The De La Salle Community – Freeport, NY

Saint John Baptist de La Salle – Pray for us.
Live, Jesus, in our hearts – Forever.