Gospel for Sunday, May 19: John 15:26-27; 16:12-15
Feast of Pentecost
“Ch. 15: 26 When the Paraclete comes, whom I will send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth proceeding from the Father, he will bear witness of me; 27 and you also bear witness, for you have been with me from the beginning. …
Ch. 16: 12 Many things I have yet to say to you, but for the present you are not able to bear the burden of them. 13 When he, the Spirit of truth, comes, he will guide you into all truth, for he will not speak from himself, but will tell all that he has heard and will announce to you the things to come. 14 He will glorify me, for he will take from that which is mine and proclaim it to you. 15 All that the Father possesses is mine; therefore I have said that he will take from what is mine and proclaim it to you”.
Jn 15:26-27; 16:12-15
Care sorelle e fratelli della Misericordie, sono Carlo Miglietta, medico, biblista, laico, marito, padre e nonno (www.buonabibbiaatutti.it). Anche oggi condivido con voi un breve pensiero di meditazione sul Vangelo, con speciale riferimento al tema della misericordia.
“We have not even heard that there is a Holy Spirit!” (Acts 19:2), say some disciples to Paul in Ephesus: many who call themselves Christians today might respond in the same way. Not for nothing has the Holy Spirit been called “the Great Forgotten One.” Yet in the “Creed” we always reiterate, “I believe in the Holy Spirit, who is Lord and gives life,” and in the Fourth Eucharistic Prayer we call him the “First Gift to Believers”!
THE HOLY SPIRIT, TRINITARIAN LOVE
At the beginning of everything there is no solitary God: there is communion, dialogue. We cannot think of the Father without the Son and the Holy Spirit. In the Trinity there is a wonderful and continuous dynamic of love. The Holy Spirit is the Love between the Father and the Son, and between the Son and the Father. But between the Divine Persons there is not only a mutual gift (missio ad intra), but love overflows outwardly, in the creation and salvation of the world (missio ad extra).
GOD CREATES US OUT OF LOVE
Creation is a Trinitarian event: not only the Father but also the Son participate in it (“Everything was made through him, and without him nothing was made of what exists.” Jn 1:3; cf. 1 Cor 8:6; Col 1:15-17; Eph 1:3-4; Heb 1:2; Col 1:15; Jn 1:15; Jn 8:58; Wis 7:21; 9:9; Pr 8:22-31; Sir 24:3) and the Holy Spirit, who from the beginning hovers over the waters (Gen 1:2), who creates everything (“By the word of the Lord were the heavens made, by the breath of his mouth were all their host: Sl 33:6) and who makes everything subsist (“Take away their spirit and they die. .. Send forth thy spirit, they are created, and renew the face of the earth”: Sl 104:29-30; ”If he . recalled his spirit to himself, and to himself withdrew his breath, all flesh would instantly perish, and man would return to dust”: Job 34:14-15; ‘Your incorruptible spirit is in all things’: Wis 12:1).
GOD SAVES US THROUGH LOVE
The incarnation takes place by the Holy Spirit (Lk 1:35; Mt 1:18, 20). The Son’s mission is revealed at baptism, when the Spirit descends on Jesus (Mt 3:16-17), manifesting his dual dimension as royal (Sl 2:7) and prophetic Messiah (the Servant of IHWH: Is 42:1= Mt 12:18). From then on, the Spirit “abides on him” (Jn 1:32) and imprints all his work (Mt 4:1; Lk 4:14. 16-20; 10:21): and all his words “are Spirit and life” (Jn 6:36). And it is the Spirit who works his resurrection (Rom 1:3-4).
THE SPIRIT OF LOVE IS POURED OUT UPON US
In the Old Testament, we often find examples of close relationships between two characters, one of whom dies or disappears from the scene and the other takes his place by gathering his spirit: Moses and Joshua (Deut. 34:9), Elijah and Elisha (2 Kings 2:9, 15)… At his death on the cross, Jesus poured out the Spirit on believers (Jn 19:30: “He poured out the Spirit”; cf. 7:38-39); and the Spirit is the great gift of the Risen One (Jn 20:22; Acts 1:9-11; 2:33). For John, the one he calls “another Paraclete” (Jn 14:16) is another Jesus. And since the Paraclete can come only when Jesus leaves (Jn 16:7), the Paraclete is Jesus’ presence when Jesus is absent.
The term “paràkletos” can have multiple meanings: as a passive of “parakalèin,” it is the “called near,” the defense counsel or rather, in John, the witness in favor in a trial; in the active form “parakalèin” is “the one who makes himself near,” the protector, the friend, the comforter; related to “paràklesis,” it is the one who exhorts, who encourages. It is not accidental that Jerome, in translating the Gospel into Latin in the so-called Vulgate, preferred to keep the simple transliteration from the Greek, “paracletus,” to retain all meanings.
The Holy Spirit is the Spirit of truth (Jn. 14:17; 15:26; 16:13; 1 Jn. 4:6; 5:6), the inner teacher of the disciples, who not only reminds them of Jesus’ teaching (14:26), but makes them understand it, guiding them to the whole truth (Jn. 16:13). He also bears witness to Jesus against the world (Jn 15:26), and brings the world under judgment regarding sin, righteousness, and judgment (Jn 16:8-11). The Spirit proceeds from the Father, who sends him in Jesus’ name (Jn 14:16, 26): but Jesus also sends him independently (Jn 15:26; 16:7): the Catholic Ecumenical Councils will conclude that “he proceeds from the Father and the Son.”
The Holy Spirit dwells in the hearts of Christians; in Jn. 14:16-17, in a stupendous crescendo, it is not only stated that He is with (“half”) believers, but that He is at (“parà”) them, indeed in (“en”) them: they have thus become “Pneumatophores,” “Bearers of the Holy Spirit” (Rom. 8:9-11; 1 Cor. 3:16). The Church itself is the “living temple of the Spirit” (Pref. VIII per annum).
The Holy Spirit completes the creation project by making us children of God (Mt 28:20; Jn 3:5-8; Rom 5:5; Tit 3:5-6; Gal 4:6).
It is especially “in the Liturgy,… that the virtue of the Holy Spirit acts in us through sensible signs” (LG, no. 50): the Holy Curé of Ars said, ”The sacraments that Christ instituted would not
would have saved us without the action of the Holy Spirit.” And this is why in the celebration of every Sacrament a fundamental moment is the “epiclesis” (from “epi-kalèo,” “I invoke above”), that is, the supplication to the Father so that through the Son he may send the Holy Spirit, so that he may accomplish his outpouring of blessing and consecration.
TRANSFORMED BY THE SPIRIT OF LOVE
Life according to the Spirit is the condition of the Christian (Rom 7:6; 8:14; Gal 5:25). The Spirit of Love indwelling believers (Rom 5:5) transforms them into new men (“You must be renewed in the Spirit … and clothe yourselves with the new man, created according to God in righteousness and true holiness”: Eph 4:23-24):
– Love: “The love of God has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit given to us as a gift” (Rom 5:5); the Spirit establishes the Church (Gal 3:3), which is to become the place of agape (1 Jn 4:20; 3:17; Mt 10:40; 25. 40.45; Mt 22:37-38; Rom 13:9-10; Gal 5:14; Col 3:14; 1 Pet 1:22) in unity (Eph 4:3-4; 2:2; 1 Cor 2:10-15) and pluralism of gifts (1 Cor 12; 14), in an authentic “ministry of the Spirit” (2 Cor 3:6, 8);
– Hope: Christians are the men of hope and optimism (Col 1:15; Titus 2:13; 2 Cor 4:13-14; 5:1-8; Mt 5:3-12): the Holy Spirit in us is the “firstfruits” (Rom 8:23) and “down payment” (2 Cor 1:22; 5:5; Eph 1:14) of salvation and resurrection (Rom 8:11; 1 Cor 15:43, 46);
– Joy: Christians are the men of joy always, in all circumstances, even in suffering (Is 9:2; 12:2-6; Zeph 3:14-18; Mt 9:15; Mk 2:19; Lk 5:34; Jn 3:29; Jn 16:22. 24; 15:11; 17:13; 1 John 1:3-4; Acts 5:41; 2 Cor 7:4; Phil 2:17-18; Col 1:24; 1 Thess 1:6; 5:16; Phil 4:4-5; Heb 10:34; Jas 1:2; 1 Pet 4:13);
– the Mission: filled with God’s Love, believers overflow from it to the brethren (Acts 2:1-12; 5:32; 15:28; 6:3.10; 7:55; 8:15-17.29.39; 9:17; 10:19.44-47; 11:15f; 13:2-4.9; 16:6-7; 20:23): the Spirit is “the power to be witnesses to the ends of the earth” (Acts 1:8).
Woe betide us for deserving Stephen’s rebuke to the Jews: “O stubborn and pagan people in heart, you always resist the Holy Spirit!” (Acts 7:51). It is therefore necessary: “to live and feed on the Spirit…, to walk in the Spirit,… be guided by the Spirit, be docile instruments in the hands of the Spirit, sound harps of prayer, fruits of the Spirit…. Only thus is the Christian constituted as a ‘letter written not with ink, but with the Spirit of the living God’ (2 Cor. 3:3)” (Pedrini).
Buona Misericordia a tutti!
Chi volesse leggere un’esegesi più completa del testo, o qualche approfondimento, me lo chieda a migliettacarlo@gmail.com .