Acts 17:15.22-18:1
Psalm 148:1-2.11-12.13.14
John 16:12-15
Naturally, there is only so much that people can learn at a certain stage of their lives. The great truths of life take a long time to assimilate. This is certainly the case with the truths of our faith. In a gradual way, we enter into those truths, and over time, with experience of life, we come to comprehend them more. When we have important news to share with someone, we sometimes have to choose our words carefully. It might not always be best to share all of the news at the one time. Sometimes we sense that the person may only be able to take in some and not all of the important news we have to share. Rather than say everything, we say some of what we need to say and later on, at a different and a more convenient time, say a little more. Jesus seems to understand and acknowledge this in our morning’s gospel reading.
This seems to be what is happening between Jesus and his disciples. Jesus says to them, ‘I have many things to say to you but they would be too much for you now....’ Jesus felt that the disciples were not yet ready for what he calls in our gospel reading ‘the complete truth’. What he communicated to them there and then was deeply true, but it was not the complete truth, because the disciples were not yet ready to hear the complete truth. Instead, Jesus promises to send his disciples the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of Truth, who, over time, would lead them to the complete truth by revealing more about Jesus to them than they were currently ready for. That is one of the roles and tasks of the Holy Spirit in our lives, making the Holy Spirit a great teacher when it comes to Jesus. On one occasion, Jesus said of himself, ‘I am the truth’, and one of the roles of the Holy Spirit is to lead us to the complete truth, which is not a body of knowledge, but a person, the person of Jesus. When it comes to the Holy Spirit, we are all learners and the Spirit is our teacher. We can each turn to the Holy Spirit in prayer, calling on the Spirit to lead us ever more closely to Jesus, asking him to help us to grow ever more fully in our loving relationship with him and with Jesus. How often do we say this prayer; 'Come Holy Spirit and fill the hearts of thy faithful....'?
In the passage of our first reading from the Acts of the Apostles, Paul, in his great speech at Athens, begins by acknowledging the religious sensibilities of the Athenians. He goes on to say that the God whom he preached and proclaims, the God who raised Jesus from the dead, is the God for whom they are searching without realizing it. We notice that Paul begins by recognizing the Athenians’ pursuit of truth and then offers them the gospel as the embodiment of that truth for which they long.
Although, at the mention of the Resurrection, they burst out laughing. They found it difficult to understand how one could rise from the dead. In John’s gospel Jesus declares himself to be the Truth, and in this morning, we hear him telling the apostles of the coming of the Spirit of truth who will lead us to the complete truth. The Spirit helps us to know the truth, to know the Lord, not just with our heads but with our hearts. We tend to know best those whom we love. The Spirit works to deepen our friendship with the Lord, our love of the Lord, so that we come to know him in that deep sense, in the sense in which the Lord knows us, because he loves us. As we approach the feast of Pentecost, we ask the Spirit to renew our relationship, our friendship, with the Lord, and, so lead us to the complete truth.
Christ had once declared himself to us as the Truth. He is the truth because he is the revelation of God and of God’s purpose for our lives. One of the roles of the Spirit is to help us to enter more deeply into the rich mystery of the person of Jesus who is the truth.
We are always craving for the completeness of the truth and the Spirit will lead us to the complete truth by referring us to Jesus, by leading us to a deeper grasp and understanding of all that Jesus said and did. The Spirit of truth, the Spirit of Jesus who is the truth, will satisfy our own longings for the ultimate truth, for the truth that sets us free. That is why, as we prepare for the descent of the Holy Spirit at the feast of Pentecost, it is good and necessary to pray ‘Come Holy Spirit, enlighten the eyes of our minds and hearts’. We must always leave ourselves open to being led by the Spirit ever more closely towards the complete truth, towards the one who said of himself, ‘I am the truth’. May we be more open so that the Holy Spirit lead us to the complete truth. Amen.
-PadreCharlesLwanga
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