5TH MONDAY HOMILY OF EASTER — YEAR A

5TH MONDAY HOMILY OF EASTER — YEAR A

HOMILY THEME: IF YOU LOVE ME, KEEP MY WORD

BY: Fr. Mike Lagrimas

Jesus said, “Whoever has my commandments and observes them is the one who loves me. And whoever loves me will be loved by my Father, and I will love him and reveal myself to him. Judas, not the Iscariot, said to him, “Master, [then] what happened that you will reveal yourself to us and not to the world?” Jesus answered and said to him, “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. Whoever does not love me does 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 that the Father will send in my name—he will teach you everything and remind you of all that [I] told you.”

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The apostles were distressed that they will not have the physical presence of Jesus anymore. He comforted them with the promise of another Advocate. His physical presence would be replaced by His abiding presence through the indwelling of His Holy Spirit, the Paraclete.

Paraclete is a Greek word which literally means “the one called for.” It is equivalent to the Latin “Advocatus”. He is the one called for to intercede for us, to help us, to comfort us, to give us counsel and to defend us.

When Jesus was physically with them, He taught them many things about the Kingdom, but they could not understand many of His teachings. So He tells them in the Gospel today, “The Paraclete will teach you everything and remind you of all that I told you.” When Jesus was apprehended and crucified, the apostles were afraid and went into hiding. But when He was gone, and the Holy Spirit came, they became courageous and openly proclaimed the message of the Crucified Lord. In other words, though the apostles did not want Jesus to be away physically, it was clear that His going away eventually proved to be more beneficial for them because the Holy Spirit was sent to them: the Helper, Counselor, Intercessor and Comforter.
The Holy Spirit does not only help them. Most importantly, It is the abiding presence of Jesus. That is why, before He ascended to the Father, He promised: “I am with you always until the end of the age” (Mt 28:20). This is not anymore mere physical presence, but a more personal and intimate presence, something more vivid and much deeper.

The Lord is referring to a very different kind of presence: His enduring presence in the people who love Him. “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.” St. Paul insists on this divine indwelling in every person: “For we are the temple of the living God” (2 Cor 6:16).

St. Augustine eventually realized this later in life, and this made him exclaim with extreme joy, mixed with deep regret: “Late have I loved you, O Beauty so ancient and so new, late have I loved you. For behold, you were within me, and I outside; and I sought you outside…You were with me, but I was not with you…You called and cried to me, and broke open my deafness. You sent forth your beams and shone, and chased away my blindness” (Confessions, 10, 27-38).

Furthermore, that presence of God in the innermost core of a person is more concretely experienced in love. Hence, Jesus is talking about love in the Gospel today. This love is not something sentimental or romantic, but has to be manifested through obedience and fidelity to God’s commands: “Whoever has my commandments and observes them is the one who loves me.” Love, then, is the power that unites us and makes us one with Jesus and the Father. Where there is real love from the disciple, Jesus will return that love and reveal Himself to His disciple.

Let us rejoice and be glad! Jesus is truly present with us at all times. He lives with us through His Holy Spirit. He is with us in His Real Presence in the Eucharist. May we always obey His commands and His will so that we will experience His constant presence in our life, united in His love and assured of eternal happiness in His Kingdom.

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